though their waters roar and foam and the mountains quake in the surge. Selah
Parallel translations
- WEB though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling. Selah.
- KJV Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
- NKJV Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
- NASB Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah
- NLT Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! Interlude
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
Though the seas roar and mountains tremble, God's people remain unafraid. It matters because God's steadfastness outlasts every raging chaos.
Overview
The roaring, surging waters picture the forces of chaos and threat, often symbolizing hostile nations. Even when creation itself seems to convulse, the believer need not fear. The 'Selah' calls for pause to absorb this confidence, which rests on the God who in Christ has mastered every storm.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Ps 93:3–4The floodwaters have risen, O LORD; the rivers have raised their voice; the seas lift up their pounding waves.
- Jer 5:22Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.
- Job 9:5–6He moves mountains without their knowledge and overturns them in His anger.
- Nah 1:5The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers.
- Judg 5:4–5O LORD, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the land of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain, and the clouds poured down water.
- Mic 1:4The mountains will melt beneath Him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.
- Ps 114:4–7the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
- Rev 16:20Then every island fled, and no mountain could be found.
- Isa 5:3“And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard.
- Ps 18:4The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.
- Job 38:11and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?
- Matt 7:25The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock.
- Rev 17:15Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute was seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.
- Isa 17:12–13Alas, the tumult of many peoples; they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations; they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters.
- 1 Kgs 19:11Then the LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD. Behold, the LORD is about to pass by.” And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
- Jer 4:24I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 46:3 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.