For He has founded it upon the seas And established it upon the rivers.
Parallel translations
- WEB For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods.
- KJV For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
- BSB For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.
- NKJV For He has founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the waters.
- NLT For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God founded the earth on the seas and established it on the waters. His creative power is the basis of his ownership.
Overview
The psalmist gives the reason for God's ownership: he himself founded and established the world, picturing the dry land set firm amid the waters. This reflects the creation account where God brings ordered habitable land out of the deep. The Creator's authority over all things is here affirmed, the same authority exercised through the eternal Son by whom all things hold together.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Jer 5:22Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? and though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail; though they roar, yet they can’t pass over it.’
- Gen 1:9–10God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
- Ps 136:6To him who spread out the earth above the waters; for his loving kindness endures forever:
- Ps 104:5–6He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever.
- Job 38:4“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.
- Ps 33:6By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made; all their army by the breath of his mouth.
- Jer 10:11–16“You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’”
- Job 38:8–11“Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,
- 2 Pet 3:5–7For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water, by the word of God;
- Ps 96:10Say among the nations, “Yahweh reigns.” The world is also established. It can’t be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.
- Gen 8:22While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”
- Ps 93:1Yahweh reigns! He is clothed with majesty! Yahweh is armed with strength. The world also is established. It can’t be moved.
- Ps 95:4In his hand are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the mountains are also his.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 24:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.