The clouds poured out water; The skies sent out a sound; Your arrows also flashed about.
Parallel translations
- WEB The clouds poured out water. The skies resounded with thunder. Your arrows also flashed around.
- KJV The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.
- BSB The clouds poured down water; the skies resounded with thunder; Your arrows flashed back and forth.
- NASB The clouds poured out water; The skies sounded out; Your arrows flashed here and there.
- NLT The clouds poured down rain; the thunder rumbled in the sky. Your arrows of lightning flashed.
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 clouds poured down rain, the skies thundered, and God's arrows of lightning flashed everywhere.
Overview
Asaph portrays the storm accompanying God's deliverance, with thunder, rain, and lightning as the weapons of heaven. This theophany underscores God's overwhelming might in saving His people. Such displays of God's power in the natural world testify to the majesty of the Redeemer who controls all creation for the good of His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 18:14He sent out his arrows, and scattered them; Yes, great lightning bolts, and routed them.
- 2 Sam 22:15He sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and confused them.
- Ps 144:6Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them.
- Judg 5:4“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.
- Ps 68:8–9The earth trembled. The sky also poured down rain at the presence of the God of Sinai — at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
- Ps 68:33To him who rides on the heaven of heavens, which are of old; behold, he utters his voice, a mighty voice.
- Hab 3:11The sun and moon stood still in the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 77:17 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.