Psalms 74:15
in Psalms 74You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou didst cleave fountain and flood: Thou driedst up mighty rivers.
KJV
Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
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This verse in Psalms 74
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThe flood - Thou didst by cleaving the rock, make a fountain and a stream to flow from it, for the refreshment of thy people in those dry deserts. Driedst - Jordan and the Red Sea; for the sea itself; yea, a greater sea than that, is called a river, Jonah ii, 3, where the Hebrew word is the same which is here used.
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.
This site's exposition
You broke open the fountain and the flood
Water breaks open in the desert and the rivers dry up, both for the same people. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown placed the fountain at the rocks of Horeb and Kadesh and the dried rivers at the Jordan. Henry added that the rock was Christ.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"You have dried up the rivers of Etham" [Psalm 74:15]....What is Etham? For the word is Hebrew. What is Etham interpreted? Strong, stout. Who is this strong and stout one, whose rivers God dries up? Who but that very dragon? For "no one enters into the house of a strong man that he may spoil his vessels, unless first he shall have bound fast the strong man." [Mark 12:29] This is that strong man on his own virtue relying, and forsaking God: this is that strong man, who says, "I will set my seat by the north, and I will be like the Most High." [Isaiah 14:13] Out of that very cup of perverse strength he has given man to drink. Strong they willed to be, who thought that they would be Gods by means of the forbidden food. Adam became strong, over whom was reproachfully said, "Behold, Adam has become like one of us." [Genesis 3:22] ...As though they were strong, "to the righteousness of God they have not been made subject." [Romans 10:3] Observe ye that a man has put out of the way his own strength, and remained weak, needy, standing afar off, not daring even to raise his eyes to Heaven; but smiting his breast, and saying, "O Lord, be merciful to me a sinner." [Luke 18:13] Now he is weak, now he confesses his weakness, he is not strong: dry land he is, be he watered with fountains and torrents. They are as yet strong who rely on their own virtue. Be their rivers dried up, let there be no advancement in the doctrines of the Gentiles, of wizards, of astrologers, of magic arts: for dried up are the rivers of the strong man: "You have dried up the rivers of Etham." Let there dry up that doctrine; let minds be flooded with the Gospel of truth.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
(1.) He had dissolved the rock into waters: Thou didst bring out the fountain and the flood (so some read it); and every one knows whence it was brought, out of the rock, out of the flinty rock. Let this never be forgotten, but let it especially be remembered that the rock was Christ, and the waters out of it were spiritual drink.
Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood,....
The Nineteenth Century2 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;
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A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
cleave the fountain--that is, the rocks of Horeb and Kadesh; for fountains. driedst up--Jordan, and, perhaps, Arnon and Jabbok (Nu 21:14). The fixed orders of nature and bounds of earth are of God.
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3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
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.
Thou didst cleave the fountain - Thou didst cleave the rock in the wilderness, of which all the congregation drank. Thou driedst up mighty rivers - Does not this refer to the cutting off the waters of the Jordan, so that the people passed over dryshod?
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood - That is, the source of the streams and the streams themselves. The main allusion is probably to the Jordan, and the idea is, that God had, as it were, divided all the waters, or prevented any obstruction to his people from the river in any respect; as if the waters in the very springs and fountains, and the waters in the channel of the river flowing from those springs and fountains, had been so restrained and divided that there was a safe passage through them. Jos 3:14-17. Thou driedst up mighty rivers - Margin, “rivers of strength.” The Hebrew - איתן 'êythân - (compare Deu 21:4; Amo 5:24; 1Ki 8:2) - means rather perennial, constant, ever-flowing. The allusion is to rivers or streams that flow constantly, or that do not dry up. It was this which made the miracle so apparent. It could not be pretended that they had gone over the bed of a stream which was accustomed to be dry at certain seasons of the year. They passed over rivers that never dried up; and, therefore, it could have been only by miracle. The main allusion is undoubtedly to the passage of the Jordan.
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 |
| בָ֭קַעְתָּ | vaka'ta | you broke open | H1234 → | 51 times |
| מַעְיָ֣ן | ma'yan | a spring | H4599 → | 23 times |
| וָנָ֑חַל | vanachal | and a torrent | H5158 → | 141 times |
| אַתָּ֥ה | ʾatah | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| ה֝וֹבַ֗שְׁתָּ | hovashta | you dried up | H3001 → | 59 times |
| נַהֲר֥וֹת | naharot | rivers of | H5104 → | 119 times |
| אֵיתָֽן׃ | ʾeitan | ever-flowing | H386 → |
אַתָּ֣הyou
ʾatahH859 →1094 times
בָ֭קַעְתָּyou broke open
vaka'taH1234 →51 times
מַעְיָ֣ןa spring
ma'yanH4599 →23 times
וָנָ֑חַלand a torrent
vanachalH5158 →141 times
אַתָּ֥הyou
ʾatahH859 →1094 times
ה֝וֹבַ֗שְׁתָּyou dried up
hovashtaH3001 →59 times
נַהֲר֥וֹתrivers of
naharotH5104 →119 times
אֵיתָֽן׃ever-flowing
ʾeitanH386 →
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
Numbers 20:11Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the congregation and their livestock were able to drink.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 10:4
and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 17:6
Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 8:15
He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint.
- Numbers 20:8
“Take the staff and assemble the congregation. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water from…
- 1 Corinthians 10:4
Through
Psalms 105:41He opened a rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert.
it leads to
- Numbers 20:11
Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the congregation and their livestock were able to drink.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 20:11
Through
Isaiah 48:21They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out.
it leads to
- Isaiah 43:19–20
Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
- Psalms 105:41
He opened a rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert.
- Isaiah 41:17–18
The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
- Isaiah 43:19–20
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 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.