Psalms 74:14
in Psalms 74You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces; Thou gavest him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
KJV
Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
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This verse in Psalms 74
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThou breakest the heads of leviathan in pieces,.... A large fish, generally thought to be the whale, by some the crocodile, described in Job 41:1 to which the king of Egypt or Babylon is compared, Isa 27:1 and so the Romish antichrist in one of his characters is represented as a sea beast with many heads, which will all be broken in pieces in due time, Rev 13:1, as here is one "leviathan" with heads in the plural number.
This site's exposition
God is my King from ancient times
on Psalms 74:12-15
The psalm turns to what God has already done: the sea divided, the heads of the dragons smashed, Leviathan crushed. Isaiah 51:9 and 10 use the same pictures of Rahab and the dragon for Egypt at the Red Sea. The fountain and the flood belong there too.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
What more after the heads of dragons? For those dragons have their chief, and he is himself the first great dragon. And concerning him what hath He done that hath wrought Salvation in the midst of the earth? Hear: "Thou hast broken the head of the dragon" (ver. 14). Of what dragon? We understand by dragons all the demons that war under the devil: what single dragon then, whose head was broken, but the devil himself ought we to understand? What with him hath He done? "Thou hast broken the head of the dragon." That is, the beginning of sin. That head is the part which received the curse, to wit that the seed of Eve should mark the head of the serpent. For the Church was admonished to shun the beginning of sin. Which is that beginning of sin, like the head of a serpent? The beginning of all sin is pride. There hath been broken therefore the head of the dragon, hath been broken pride diabolical. And what with him hath He done, that hath wrought Salvation in the midst of the earth? "Thou hast given him for a morsel to the Ethiopian peoples." What is this? How do I understand the Ethiopian peoples? How but by these all nations? And properly by black men: for Ethiopians are black. They are themselves called to the faith who were black; the very same indeed, so that there is said to them, "for ye were sometime darkness, but now light in the Lord." ...Thence was also that calf which the people worshipped, unbelieving, apostate, seeking the gods of the Egyptians, forsaking Him who had delivered them from the slavery of the Egyptians: whence there was enacted that great Sacrament. […]
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The people - To the ravenous birds and beasts of the desert. These creatures are significantly called the people of the wilderness, because they are the only people that inhabit it.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Examples of the "salvation wrought" are cited. divide the sea--that is, Red Sea. brakest . . . waters--Pharaoh and his host (compare Isa 51:9, 10;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
heads of leviathan--The word is a collective, and so used for many. the people . . . wilderness--that is, wild beasts, as conies (Pr 30:25, 26), are called a people.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Having spread the sad case before the Lord, the pleader now urges another series of arguments for divine help. He reasons from the Lord's former wonders of grace, and his deeds of power, imploring a repetition of the same divine works.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
The heads of leviathan - Leviathan might be intended here as a personification of the Egypttan government; and its heads, Pharaoh and his chief captains. To the people inhabiting the wilderness - Probably meaning the birds and beasts of prey. These were the people of the wilderness, which fed on the dead bodies of the Egyptians, which the tides had cast ashore. The Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic read, “Thou hast given him for meat to the Ethiopians,” or Abyssinians.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces - On the meaning of the word “leviathan,” see the notes at Job 41:1. The word is used here as descriptive of sea monsters. And gavest him to be meat - Gavest him for “food.” To the people inhabiting the wilderness - That is, the sea monsters were killed, and, being thrown on shore, were gathered for food. The “inhabitants of the wilderness” or the desert, may refer either to the wild and savage tribes of men that lived on the shores of the sea, and that subsisted mainly on fish, or it may refer to the wild animals of the desert that consumed such sea monsters as they were cast up on the shore. There is no allusion to the Israelites considered as passing through the desert, as if they had fed on these sea monsters. The essential idea is, that these monsters were put to death, or were so removed but of the way as to offer no obstruction to the passage of the Israelites through the sea. It was as if they had been killed. The image is entirely poetic, and there is no necessity for supposing that such a thing literally occurred.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
the beads of the sea monsters They are the Egyptians, who are called sea monsters, as it is said (Ezek.:3): “the great sea monster, etc.”
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַתָּ֣ה | ʾatah | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| רִ֭צַּצְתָּ | ritzatzta | you crushed | H7533 → | |
| רָאשֵׁ֣י | rashei | [the] heads of | H7218 → | 599 times |
| לִוְיָתָ֑ן | livyatan | Leviathan | H3882 → | |
| תִּתְּנֶ֥נּוּ | titenenu | you gave it | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| מַ֝אֲכָ֗ל | maakhal | food | H3978 → | 30 times |
| לְעָ֣ם | leam | to a people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| לְצִיִּֽים׃ | letziyim | to desert-dwellers | H6728 → |
אַתָּ֣הyou
ʾatahH859 →1094 times
רִ֭צַּצְתָּyou crushed
ritzatztaH7533 →
רָאשֵׁ֣י[the] heads of
rasheiH7218 →599 times
לִוְיָתָ֑ןLeviathan
livyatanH3882 →
תִּתְּנֶ֥נּוּyou gave it
titenenuH5414 →2011 times
מַ֝אֲכָ֗לfood
maakhalH3978 →30 times
לְעָ֣םto a people
leamH5971 →1873 times
לְצִיִּֽים׃to desert-dwellers
letziyimH6728 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 27:1In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 29:3
Speak to him and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies among his rivers, who says,…
- Isaiah 51:9
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the…
- Isaiah 66:16
For by fire and by His sword, the LORD will execute judgment on all flesh, and many will be slain by the LORD.
- Revelation 12:3
Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads.
- Revelation 20:2
He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.
- Ezekiel 29:3
Through
Psalms 72:9May the nomads bow before him, and his enemies lick the dust.
it leads to
- Isaiah 49:23
Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow to you facedown and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD;…
- Micah 7:17
They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will crawl from their holes in the presence of the LORD our God; they will tremble in fear of…
- Isaiah 49:23
Through
Job 3:8May it be cursed by those who curse the day—those prepared to rouse Leviathan.
it leads to
- Job 41:1
“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
- Job 41:1
About Psalms
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 74; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.