water · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
roar
יֶהֱמ֣וּye.he.Mu
H1993
to make a loud sound (like English 'hum') · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
troubled
יֶחְמְר֣וּyech.me.Ru
H2560
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
mountains
הָרִ֖יםha.Rim
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · noun, common masculine plural absolute
shake
יִֽרְעֲשֽׁוּyir.'a.shu-
H7493
to undulate (as the earth · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
swelling
בְּגַאֲוָת֣וֹbe.ga.'a.va.To
H1346
arrogance or majesty · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Selah
סֶֽלָהSe.lah
H5542
suspension (of music) · interjection
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 93:3-4 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.
Jeremiah 5:22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decre…
Job 9:5-6 Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger.
Judges 5:4-5 LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds a…
Micah 1:4 And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down…
Nahum 1:5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
Psalms 114:4-7 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
Revelation 16:20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 46:1-5
The psalmist here teaches us by his own example.
I. To triumph in God, and his relation to us and presence with us, especially when we have had some fresh experiences of his appearing in our behalf (Psa 46:1): God is our refuge and strength; we have found him so, he has engaged to be so, and he ever will be so. Are we pursued? God is our refuge to whom we may flee, and in whom we may be safe and think ourselves so; secure upon good grounds, Pro 18:10. Are we oppressed by troubles? Have we work to do and enemies to grapple with? God is our strength, to bear us up under our burdens, to fit us for all our services and sufferings; he will by his grace put strength into us, and on him we may stay…
swelling--well represents the pride and haughtiness of insolent foes.
John Gill on Psalms 46:3
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,.... The noise of which causes men's hearts to fail them for fear, Luke 21:25;
though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. All these figurative expressions denote the hurlyburlies, confusions, and disorders that have been or will be in the world; amidst all which the people of God have no reason to fear; for it is always well with the righteous, let it go how it will with others. The passage may be applied to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the wars preceding it, and the dispersion of the Jews upon it; when true believers in Christ found him to be their refuge, strength, and help in that time of trouble, such as never was the like,…
Psalm 46:3-5
3. Though the waters thereof roar and rage [175] tempestuously: though the mountains be shaken with the swelling thereof. Selah. 4. The streams of her river shall make glad the city of God, the sanctuary of the tabernacles of the Most High. 5. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God will help her at the dawn of the morning.
3 Though the waters thereof roar, etc This verse ought to be read in connection with the verse which follows, because it is necessary to complete the sense, as if it had been said: Though the waters of the sea roar and swell, and by their fierce impetuosity shake the very mountains -- even in the midst of these dreadful tumults, the holy cit…
The Church Fathers
"The waters thereof roared, and were troubled" [Psalm 46:3]: when the Gospel was preached, "What is this? He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods:" [Acts 17:18] this the Athenians; but the Ephesians, with what tumult would they have slain the Apostles, when in the theatre, for their goddess Diana, they made such an uproar, as to be shouting, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" [Acts 19:34] Amidst which waves and roaring of the sea, feared not they who to that refuge had fled. Nay, the Apostle Paul would enter in to the theatre, and was kept back by the disciples, because it was necessary that he should still abide in the flesh for their sakes. But yet, "the waters thereof roared, and were troubled: the mountains shook at the mightiness thereof." Whose might? The sea's? Or rather God's, of whom was said, "refuge and strength, a helper in tribulations, which have found us out too much?" For shaken were the mountains, that is, the powers of this world. For one thing are the mountains of God, another the mountains of the world: the mountains of the world, they whose head is the devil, the mountains of God, they whose Head is Christ. But by these mountains were shaken those mountains. Then gave they their voices against Christians, when the mountains were shaken, the waters roaring; for the mountains were shaken, and there was made a great earthquake, with quaking of the sea. But against whom this? Against the City founded upon a rock. The waters roar, the mountains shake, the Gospel being preached. What then, the City of God? Hear what follows.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Alamoth — Virgins, a musical term (1 Chr. 15:20), denoting that the psalm which bears this inscription (Ps. 46) was to be sung by soprano or female voices.
Assurance · .Preservation — .Preservation
Earthquakes · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Psalms 46:3 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
(Heb.: 46:2-4) The congregation begins with a general declaration of that which God is to them. This declaration is the result of their experience. Luther, after the lxx and Vulg., renders it, "in the great distresses which have come upon us." As though נמצא could stand for הנּמצעות, and that this again could mean anything else but "at present existing," to which מאד is not at all appropriate. God Himself is called נמצא מאד as being one who allows Himself to be found in times of distress (Ch2 15:4, and frequently) exceedingly; i.e., to those who then seek Him He reveals Himself and verifies His word beyond all measure. Because God is such a God to them, the congregation or church does not fe…
Ps 46 This psalm of Zion celebrates God’s special presence in Jerusalem (see also Pss 48, 76, 87, 122), inviting confidence in the Lord because the citizens of Zion enjoy his protection.
46:title sung by soprano voices: Hebrew according to alamoth (“maidens”; see also study note on 1 Chr 15:20). In worship, a choir or a group of instrumentalists performed this hymn.
46:1-3 Even when faced with natural disasters, the citizens of Zion express no fear.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 46:3
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled. When all things are excited to fury, and reveal their utmost power to disturb, faith smiles serenely. She is not afraid of noise, nor even of real force, she knows that the Lord stilleth the raging of the sea, and holdeth the waves in the hollow of his hand. Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Alps and Andes may tremble, but faith rests on a firmer basis, and is not to be moved by swelling seas. Evil may ferment, wrath may boil, and pride may foam, but the brave heart of holy confidence trembles not. Great men who are…
