He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
Parallel translations
- WEB He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deeps in storehouses.
- BSB He piles up the waters of the sea; He puts the depths into storehouses.
- NKJV He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.
- NASB He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He puts the depths in storehouses.
- NLT He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs.
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 gathers the seas and stores the deeps as easily as one handles familiar things, showing his mastery over creation.
Overview
Using imagery of waters gathered like a heap and stored in storehouses, the psalmist pictures God's complete control over the vast and chaotic ocean. What overwhelms humanity is wholly subject to him. The God who masters the deep is the same Lord whom wind and waves obeyed in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Exod 15:8And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
- Josh 3:16That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho.
- Josh 3:13And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the LORD of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.
- Gen 1:9–10And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
- Ps 104:6–9Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.
- Hab 3:15Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.
- Job 26:10He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.
- Job 38:8–11Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
- Jer 5:22Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
- Prov 8:29When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
- Ps 78:13He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.
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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 33:7 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.