The waters saw You, O God; the waters saw You and swirled; even the depths were shaken.
Parallel translations
- WEB The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you, and they writhed. The depths also convulsed.
- KJV The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.
- NKJV The waters saw You, O God; The waters saw You, they were afraid; The depths also trembled.
- NASB ¶The waters saw You, God; The waters saw You, they were in anguish; The ocean depths also trembled.
- NLT When the Red Sea saw you, O God, its waters looked and trembled! The sea quaked to its very depths.
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
The waters saw God and writhed, and the depths trembled at His presence.
Overview
The psalmist vividly depicts creation's response to God at the Red Sea, as the waters convulse before Him. This poetic imagery magnifies God's awesome power over the sea that He divided to save Israel. The same Lord who commands the waters later shows His authority over the sea in Christ, who stills the storm with a word.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Exod 14:21Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,
- Josh 3:15–16Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season. But as soon as the priests carrying the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,
- Hab 3:15You trampled the sea with Your horses, churning the great waters.
- Ps 114:3–6The sea observed and fled; the Jordan turned back;
- Hab 3:8–10Were You angry at the rivers, O LORD? Was Your wrath against the streams? Did You rage against the sea when You rode on Your horses, on Your chariots of salvation?
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 77:16 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
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