The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.
Parallel translations
- WEB The sea is his, and he made it. His hands formed the dry land.
- KJV The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
- NKJV The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land.
- NASB The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land.
- NLT The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too.
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 sea is God's, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. God is the Maker of sea and land alike.
Overview
Continuing the theme of God's sovereign ownership, the psalmist credits Him with creating both sea and land. Because He made all things, He rightly rules and is worthy of worship. The same creative power belongs to Christ, through whom all things were made (John 1:3; Genesis 1:9-10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Gen 1:9–10And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.
- Ps 33:7He piles up the waters of the sea; He puts the depths into storehouses.
- Ps 146:6the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He remains faithful forever.
- Prov 8:29when He set a boundary for the sea, so that the waters would not surpass His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth.
- Jonah 1:9“I am a Hebrew,” replied Jonah. “I worship the LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”
- Jer 5:22Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.
- Prov 8:26before He made the land or fields, or any of the dust of the earth.
- Job 38:10–11when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
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 95:5 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.