Psalms 78:13
in Psalms 78He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He clave the sea, and caused them to pass through; And he made the waters to stand as a heap.
KJV
He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.
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This verse in Psalms 78
Commentary
12 notes on this verse"He split the sea and led them through." The Lord walked upon the sea, and calmed the waves of the sea, and led us through. "He split the sea and led them through." To this day, O faithful monk, when you are led out of Egypt, the sea is split, and thus you are led out. "He set the waters as if in a wineskin." In the Hebrew it does not have "wineskin," but "heap."
This site's exposition
The archers of Ephraim turned back
on Psalms 78:9-16
Ephraim's archers turned back, and verses 10 and 11 name the failure, a broken covenant and forgotten works. The works come next, wonders in Egypt at Zoan, the sea split, the cloud and fire, and water out of split rock. Delitzsch ties the tribe to its rejection at verse 67.
This site's exposition
He set the waters upright like a wall
Barnes gave the Hebrew behind wall as a heap, like the waters of Exodus 15:8 and the Jordan in Joshua 3:16. Jerome noted the Greek had wineskin for heap. The sea stood upright and Israel was brought through.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
For He that "did burst asunder the sea and made them go through, did confine the waters as it were in bottles" [Psalm 78:13], in order that the water might stand up first as if it were shut in, is able by His grace to restrain the flowing and ebbing tides of carnal desires, when we renounce this world, so that all sins having been thoroughly washed away, as if they were enemies, the people of the faithful may be made to pass through by means of the Sacrament of Baptism.
"Before their fathers the wonders which he did in the land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis: he split the sea and led them through; he set the waters as if in a wineskin, and led them down in a cloud by day." Let someone say: You do violence to Scripture: for it is said simply of the people of Israel, when they were led out of the land of Egypt, and therefore it is said according to the history; and we read that the ten tribes forsook God, and became idolaters, and that they followed the golden calves.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
12, 13 , where God is said to lead them by the hand, as it were, through the deep that they should not stumble. (2.) How he provided a guide for them through the untrodden paths of the wilderness (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
He divided the sea,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
A record of God's dealings and the sins of the people is now made. The writer gives the history from the exode to the retreat from Kadesh; then contrasts their sins with their reasons for confidence, shown by a detail of God's dealings in Egypt, and presents a summary of the subsequent history to David's time.
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through. A double wonder, for when the waters were divided the bottom of the sea would naturally be in a very unfit state for the passage of so vast a host as that of Israel; it would in fact have been impassable, had not the Lord made the road for his people. Who else has ever led a nation through a sea? Yet the Lord has done this full often for his saints in providential deliverances, making a highway for them where nothing short of an almighty arm could have done so. And he made the waters to stand as an heap. He forbade a drop to fall upon his chosen, they felt no spray from the crystal walls on either hand. Fire will descend and water stand upright at the bidding of the Lord of all. The nature of creatures is not their own intrinsically, but is retained or altered at the will of him who first created them. The Lord can cause those evils which threaten to overwhelm us to suspend their ordinary actions, and become innocuous to us.
He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through. A double wonder, for when the waters were divided the bottom of the sea would naturally be in a very unfit state for the passage of so vast a host as that of Israel; it would in fact have been impassable, had not the Lord made the road for his people. Who else has ever led a nation through a sea?
He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through - The reader is requested to consult the notes on the parallel passages marked in the margin on this verse and Psa 78:14-17, etc., where all these miracles are largely explained.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
He divided the sea ... - The Red Sea. Exo 14:21-22. And he made the waters to stand as an heap - The word rendered “heap” means anything piled up, or a mound; and the idea is, that the waters were piled up on each side of them as a “mound.” See the notes at Psa 33:7. Compare Jos 3:13, Jos 3:16; Exo 15:8.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
as a heap Heb. נד, a tall heap, as Onkelos renders (Exod.:8): “the flowing water stood up like a נֵד,” stood up like a wall.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Before their forefathers He wrought wonders (Nevertheless—Shem Ephraim) Afterwards, when the end arrived, they too “continued to sin against Him,” as he further concludes. (Another explanation—Shem Ephraim)
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. 6 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
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בָּ֣קַע | baka' | he split open | H1234 → | 51 times |
| יָ֭ם | yam | [the] sea | H3220 → | 396 times |
| וַיַּֽעֲבִירֵ֑ם | vaiyaavirem | and he brought through them | H5674 → | 556 times |
| וַֽיַּצֶּב־ | vaiyatzev- | and he made to stand up | H5324 → | 75 times |
| מַ֥יִם | mayim | [the] waters | H4325 → | 581 times |
| כְּמוֹ־ | kemov- | like | H3644 → | 143 times |
| נֵֽד׃ | ned | a heap | H5067 → |
בָּ֣קַעhe split open
baka'H1234 →51 times
יָ֭ם[the] sea
yamH3220 →396 times
וַיַּֽעֲבִירֵ֑םand he brought through them
vaiyaaviremH5674 →556 times
וַֽיַּצֶּב־and he made to stand up
vaiyatzev-H5324 →75 times
מַ֥יִם[the] waters
mayimH4325 →581 times
כְּמוֹ־like
kemov-H3644 →143 times
נֵֽד׃a heap
nedH5067 →
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
Exodus 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…
it leads to
- Isaiah 63:12
who sent His glorious arm to lead them by the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to gain for Himself everlasting renown,
- Psalms 66:6
He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the waters on foot; there we rejoiced in Him.
- Exodus 15:8
At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up; like a wall the currents stood firm; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.
- Nehemiah 9:11
You divided the sea before them, and they crossed through it on dry ground. You hurled their pursuers into the depths like a stone into raging waters.
- Joshua 4:23
For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as He did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until…
- Isaiah 63:12
Through
Psalms 66:6He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the waters on foot; there we rejoiced in Him.
it leads to
- Exodus 14:21–22
Then 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…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 14:21–22
Through
Exodus 15:8At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up; like a wall the currents stood firm; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.
it leads to
- Job 4:9
By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
- Job 4:9
Through
Joshua 3:16the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was…
it leads to
- Joshua 3:13
When the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the earth—touch down in the waters of the Jordan, its flowing waters will be cut off and will…
- Joshua 3:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies11
About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 78; 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; Jerome, Homily 11, on Psalm 77; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.