Then you put a leader over us. We went through fire and flood, but you brought us to a place of great abundance.
Parallel translations
- WEB You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance.
- KJV Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.
- BSB You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us into abundance.
- NKJV You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.
- NASB You made men ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water. Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance.
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
They passed through fire and water under oppression, yet God brought them to abundance. It celebrates God's faithfulness to bring His people through trials to blessing.
Overview
After enduring oppression and the dangers of fire and water, the people testify that God brought them out to a place of abundance. The trials had a destination of blessing in God's hands. This echoes God's promise to be with His people through deep waters and fire, fulfilled in Christ who leads us to eternal rest.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Isa 43:1–2But now Yahweh who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel says: “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine.
- Isa 51:23and I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down, that we may walk over you;’ and you have laid your back as the ground, like a street to those who walk over.”
- Jas 5:11Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
- Ps 40:2–3He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. He set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand.
- Rev 7:14–17I told him, “My lord, you know.” He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb’s blood.
- Acts 14:22confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into God’s Kingdom.
- 1 Th 3:3–4that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you know that we are appointed to this task.
- Ps 107:35–37He turns a desert into a pool of water, and a dry land into water springs.
- Job 36:16Yes, he would have allured you out of distress, into a wide place, where there is no restriction. That which is set on your table would be full of fatness.
- Ps 33:19to deliver their soul from death, to keep them alive in famine.
- Isa 35:6–7Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
- Ps 129:1–3A Song of Ascents. Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say,
- Luke 16:25“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But now here he is comforted and you are in anguish.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 66:12 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.