The Lord says, “I will bring my enemies down from Bashan; I will bring them up from the depths of the sea.
Parallel translations
- WEB The Lord said, “I will bring you again from Bashan, I will bring you again from the depths of the sea;
- KJV The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea:
- BSB The Lord said, “I will retrieve them from Bashan, I will bring them up from the depths of the sea,
- NKJV The Lord said, “I will bring back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
- NASB The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan. I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
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 promises to bring his people back from every extreme place of danger, whether the heights of Bashan or the depths of the sea. No situation is beyond his reach to rescue or to bring enemies to justice.
Overview
The Lord declares he will retrieve his own from the most distant and perilous places, pictured by lofty Bashan and the deep sea. The same all-reaching power that gathers his people also drags out his enemies for judgment, as the next verse shows. This sweeping sovereignty foreshadows the gospel reach of God, who in Christ seeks and saves the lost wherever they are found.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Num 21:33They turned and went up by the way of Bashan. Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.
- Ezek 36:24For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.
- Exod 14:29But the children of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left.
- Isa 11:11–16It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
- Exod 14:22The children of Israel went into the middle of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left.
- Amos 9:2–3Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.
- Isa 51:10–11Isn’t it you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?
- Isa 49:22Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and lift up my banner to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
- Jer 23:5–8“Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
- Hos 1:10–11Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured or counted; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’
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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 68:22 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.