Psalms 8:8

8:8 the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea

and everything that moves through the currents ¹  of the seas.

Psalms 33:7

33:7 He piles up the water of the sea; ² 

he puts the oceans ³  in storehouses.

Psalms 78:53

78:53 He guided them safely along,

while the sea covered their enemies.

Psalms 95:5

95:5 The sea is his, for he made it.

His hands formed the dry land.

Psalms 96:11

96:11 Let the sky rejoice, and the earth be happy!

Let the sea and everything in it shout!

Psalms 107:23

107:23 ⁴ Some traveled on ⁵  the sea in ships,

and carried cargo over the vast waters. ⁶ 

Psalms 114:5

114:5 Why do you flee, O sea?

Why do you turn back, O Jordan River?

¹ tn Heb “paths.”

² tn Heb “[he] gathers like a pile the waters of the sea.” Some prefer to emend נֵד (ged, “heap, pile”; cf. NASB) to נֹד (nod, “bottle”; cf. NRSV; NIV “into jars”), but “pile” is used elsewhere to describe water that the Lord confines to one place (Exod 15:8; Josh 3:13, 16; Ps 78:13). This verse appears to refer to Gen 1:9, where God decrees that the watery deep be gathered to one place so that dry land might appear. If so, the participles in this and the following line depict this action with special vividness, as if the reader were present on the occasion. Another option is that the participles picture the confinement of the sea to one place as an ongoing divine activity.

³ tn Or “watery depths.” The form תְּהוֹמוֹת (tÿhomot, “watery depths”) is the plural form of תְּהוֹם (tÿhom, “great deep”; see Gen 1:2).

³ sn Verses 23-30, which depict the Lord rescuing sailors from a storm at sea, do not seem to describe the exiles’ situation, unless the word picture is metaphorical. Perhaps the psalmist here broadens his scope and offers an example of God’s kindness to the needy beyond the covenant community.

⁴ tn Heb “those going down [into].”

⁵ tn Heb “doers of work on the mighty waters.”