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Psalms 95:5

in Psalms 95

The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

The sea is his, and he made it; And his hands formed the dry land.

KJV

The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.

This verse in Psalms 95

Commentary

12 notes on this verse
The sea is his, and he made it,.... He made it, and therefore it is, and all creatures in it; he sets bounds to it, and its waves, and restrains the raging of it at his pleasure, Mat 8:26, and his hands formed the dry land; the whole world, all besides the sea, the vast continent; he is the Maker of it, and all creatures in it; without him was nothing made that is made; and, being the Creator of all things, is the proper object of worship, Joh 1:2, as follows.

This site's exposition

a great King above all gods

on Psalms 95:3-5

The reason for the summons is the LORD's rank, a great God, a great King over all other gods. Verses 4 and 5 pair the depths of the earth with the mountain peaks, and the sea with the dry land, bottom to top. All of it is in His hand.

This site's exposition

The sea is His, for He made it

The verse gives its own reason for His ownership: He made it. The neighbouring peoples gave the sea a god of its own, and this verse claims it for the LORD. Formed is the potter's verb, used of hands shaping clay.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Jerome

LETTER 22.39 · Written before 420.

For our salvation the Son of God is made the Son of man. Nine months he awaits his birth in the womb, undergoes the most revolting conditions and comes forth covered with blood, to be swathed in rags and covered with caresses. "He who clasps the world in his fist" is contained in the narrow limits of a manger. I say nothing of the thirty years during which he lives in obscurity, satisfied with the poverty of his parents. When he is scourged, he holds his peace; when he is crucified, he prays for his crucifiers.

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

Exposition on Psalm 95 · Written before 430.

proposed

"For the sea is His and He made it" [Psalm 95:5]. For the sea is this world, but God made also the sea: nor can the waves rage save only so far as to the shore, where He has marked their bounds. There is therefore no temptation, that has not received its measure...."And His hands prepared the dry land." Be thou the dry land: thirst for the grace of God: that as a sweet shower it may come upon you, may find in you fruit. He allows not the waves to cover what He has sown. "And His hands prepared the dry land." Hence also therefore let us shout unto the Lord.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

To him all power is given both in heaven and in earth, and into his hand all things are delivered. It is he that sets one foot on the sea and the other on the earth, as sovereign Lord of both ( Rev. x. 2 ), and therefore to him we must sing our songs of praise, and before him we must worship and bow down.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)

The sea is his. This was seen to be true at the Red Sea when the waters saw their God, and obediently stood aside to open a pathway for his people. It was not Edom's sea though it was red, nor Egypt's sea though it washed her shores. The Lord on high reigned supreme over the flood, as King far ever and ever.

A commentator

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 4 (1874)

proposed

The sea is his. This was seen to be true at the Red Sea when the waters saw their God, and obediently stood aside to open a pathway for his people. It was not Edom's sea though it was red, nor Egypt's sea though it washed her shores. The Lord on high reigned supreme over the flood, as King far ever and ever. So is it with the broad ocean, whether known as Atlantic or Pacific, Mediterranean or Arctic; no man can map it out and say "It is mine"; the illimitable acreage of waters knows no other lord but God alone. Jehovah rules the waves. Far down in vast abysses, where no eye of man has gazed, or foot of diver has descended, he is sole proprietor; every rolling billow and foaming wave owns him for monarch; Neptune is but a phantom, the Lord is God of ocean. And he made it. Hence his right and sovereignty. He scooped the unfathomed channel and poured forth the overflowing flood; seas were not fashioned by chance, nor their shores marked out by the imaginary finger of fate; God made the main, and every creek, and bay, and current, and far sounding tide owns the great Maker's hand. All hail, Creator and Controller of the sea, let those who fly in the swift ships across the wonder realm of waters worship thee alone! And his hands formed the dry land. Whether fertile field or sandy waste, he made all that men called terra firma, lifting it from the floods and fencing it from the overflowing waters. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." He bade the isles upraise their heads, he levelled the vast plains, upreared the table lands, cast up the undulating hills, and piled the massive Alps. As the potter moulds his clay, so did Jehovah with his hands fashion the habitable parts of the earth. Come ye, then, who dwell on this fair world, and worship him who is conspicuous wherever ye tread!
4 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century4 voices

THIS Psalm exhorts us to sing joyfully unto God. Whether we contemplate the land or the sea, there will be found upon them both abundant reasons for adoring the great Creator. Some, I know, as they walk upon the land, can no more praise Him than if it were one vast desert of Sahara—and yet the earth is full of His goodness—it is as a garden yielding not only food for man and beast, but lovely and fragrant flowers! Forest and field, mountain and plain alike sing out the praises of the Lord! Nor is the sea less rich in excitements to worship the Lord our Maker. Ignorant persons regard the sea as a dreary waste of waters. In the olden times, our home-loving forefathers were desperately afraid of the sea and looked upon it as a devouring monster. It was a "melancholy ocean" to them—a place of constant sorrow and sudden death—they shuddered as they thought of it. But, indeed, to him who is rightly taught, the sea is full of beauty! Its every wave is lit up with splendor—the sea is the Lord's, for He made it! You see then, that both on the land and on the sea adoration is in its place. Praise is never out of season at any time and worship is never foreign in any land. It matters not whether we travel over sand or snow, or how we are tossed about on Arctic or tropical sea—we are still in the pasture of the Great Shepherd, and within the palace of the Great King. Praise the Lord from the earth and let dragons and all deeps join in the Psalm. "Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." At this time I shall ask you only to think of the sea. I could far more easily preach upon this text if I were standing in one of my delightful haunts by the Mediterranean, looking over its blue waters, hidden away in the cleft of a rock, with the spray at my feet.
THIS Psalm exhorts us to sing joyfully unto God. Whether we contemplate the land or the sea, there will be found upon them both abundant reasons for adoring the great Creator. Some, I know, as they walk upon the land, can no more praise Him than if it were one vast desert of Sahara—and yet the earth is full of His goodness—it is as a garden yielding not only food for man and beast, but lovely and fragrant flowers! Forest and field, mountain and plain alike sing out the praises of the Lord!

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

The sea is his - The sea and the dry land are equally his, for he has formed them both, and they are his property. He governs and disposes of them as he sees good. He is the absolute Master of universal nature. Therefore there is no other object of worship nor of confidence.
The sea is his - Margin, as in Hebrew, “Whose the sea is.” That is, The sea belongs to him, with all which it contains. And he made it - It is his, “because” he made it. The creation of anything gives the highest possible right over it. And his hands formed the dry land - He has a claim, therefore, that it should be recognized as his, and that all who dwell upon it, and derive their support from it, should acknowledge him as its great Owner and Lord.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

and the heights An expression of height, like a bird that flies [up high].
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Psalms 95:4:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

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. 4 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 words

Every 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.

  • אֲשֶׁר־whom

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • ל֣וֹ[belongs] to him

    lo

  • הַ֭יָּםthe sea

    haiyomH3220 →396 times

  • וְה֣וּאand he

    vehu'H1931 →1879 times

  • עָשָׂ֑הוּhe made it

    ʾasahuH6213 →2628 times

  • וְ֝יַבֶּ֗שֶׁתand [the] dry land

    veyabeshetH3006 →

  • יָדָ֥יוhands his

    yadavH3027 →1618 times

  • יָצָֽרוּ׃they formed

    yatzaruH3335 →62 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Psalms 33:7

    He piles up the waters of the sea; He puts the depths into storehouses.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 1:9–10

      And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 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.

    • Joshua 3:16

      the 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…

  • Through

    Proverbs 8:29

    when 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.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 104:9

      You set a boundary they cannot cross, that they may never again cover the earth.

    • Jeremiah 5:22

      Do 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…

  • Through

    Psalms 146:6

    the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He remains faithful forever.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 20:11

      For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath…

    • Revelation 14:7

      And he said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the One who made the heavens and the earth and the sea…

    • Psalms 100:5

      For the LORD is good, and His loving devotion endures forever; His faithfulness continues to all generations.

Where this verse is studied

About Psalms

Olive Trees. Vincent van Gogh, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, November 1889. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Olive Trees. Vincent van Gogh, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, November 1889. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
This page draws on 11 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 95; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3291: “The Sea! the Sea! the Wide and Open Sea!” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jerome, LETTER 22.39; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.