Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! Interlude
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.
- BSB though their waters roar and foam and the mountains quake in the surge. 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
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 floods have lifted up, Yahweh, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves.
- 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.’
- Job 9:5–6He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it, when he overturns them in his anger.
- Nah 1:5The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it.
- Judg 5:4–5“Yahweh, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the sky also dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water.
- Mic 1:4The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place.
- Ps 114:4–7The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs.
- Rev 16:20Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
- Isa 5:3“Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.
- Ps 18:4The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
- Job 38:11and said, ‘Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?’
- Matt 7:25The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock.
- Rev 17:15He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.
- Isa 17:12–13Ah, the uproar of many peoples, who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!
- 1 Kgs 19:11He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.” Behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake; but Yahweh was not in the earthquake.
- Jer 4:24I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 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.