to turn about or over · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sea
יָ֨םyam
H3220
a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · noun, common masculine singular absolute
dry
לְֽיַבָּשָׁ֗הle.ya.ba.Shah
H3004
dry ground · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
went
יַֽעַבְר֣וּya.'av.Ru
H5674
to cross over · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
flood
בַּ֭נָּהָרBa.na.hor
H5104
a stream (including the sea · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
foot
בְרָ֑גֶלve.Ra.gel
H7272
a foot (as used in walking) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
rejoice
נִשְׂמְחָהnis.me.chah-
H8055
probably to brighten up · verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common plural
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
Joshua 3:16 That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those tha…
Exodus 14:21-22 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea…
Exodus 15:1-21 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed glor…
Joshua 3:14 And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before t…
Psalms 78:13 He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.
Psalms 106:8-12 Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.
Psalms 136:13-14 To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever:
Psalms 104:5-7 Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 66:1-7
I. In these verses the psalmist calls upon all people to praise God, all lands, all the earth, all the inhabitants of the world that are capable of praising God, Psa 66:1. 1. This speaks the glory of God, that he is worthy to be praised by all, for he is good to all and furnishes every nation with matter for praise. 2. The duty of man, that all are obliged to praise God; it is part of the law of creation, and therefore is required of every creature. 3. A prediction of the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ; the time should come when all lands should praise God, and this incense should in every place be offered to him. 4. A hearty good-will which the psalmist had to this good w…
The terrible works illustrated in Israel's history (Exo 14:21). By this example let rebels be admonished.
John Gill on Psalms 66:6
He turned the sea into dry land,.... The Red sea, or sea of Zuph, as the Targum; by causing a strong east wind to blow, which made it dry, so that the children of Israel passed through it on dry ground, Exodus 14:21. Or, "he turneth" (y); for though the allusion is to the making the Red sea dry land, when the Israelites passed through it; yet it refers to something to be done in the times of Christ and the Gospel dispensation. So Christ might be said to do this literally, when he walked upon the sea of Galilee as on dry land, and enabled Peter to do so likewise, Matthew 14:25; and figuratively, when he makes his people walk through the sea of this world, and the waters of afflictions in it,…
Psalm 66:5-9
5. Come and see the works of God; he is terrible in his dealing towards the children of men. 6. He turned the sea into dry land; they went through the flood on foot; there did we rejoice in him. 7. He ruleth by his power over the world; his eyes behold the nations; rebels [471] shall not exalt themselves. 8. Bless our God; [472] O ye people! and resound the voice of his praise. 9. Who hath brought our souls unto life, and hath not suffered our feet to fall.
5. Come and see the works of God An indirect censure is here passed upon that almost universal thoughtlessness which leads men to neglect the praises of God. Why is it that they so blindly overlook the operations of his han…
The Church Fathers
Then [Symmachus] outlines what was done of old. "He turns the sea into dry land; they will cross the river on foot." The tense has been changed here: he spoke of the past as future, whereas the others retained the tense, Symmachus saying, "He turned the sea into dry land, they crossed the river on foot." This is the God, he is saying, who will grant us salvation as well, who of old divided sea and river, and bade our forebears cross without risk and accords the nations the crossing that they make when through the washing of regeneration they are reformed. In other words, just as at that time through the hand of the mighty Moses he divided the Red Sea at this point, … so now as well through the hand of the priests he renews the people who believe in Christ, while submerging in figure Pharaoh with his chariots—that is, the devil with his desires (the initiated know what I mean).
Wherefore what has He done by the terror of His counsel? He has turned the sea into dry land. For this follows, "That has turned the sea into dry land" [Psalm 66:6]. A sea was the world, bitter with saltness, troubled with tempest, raging with waves of persecutions, sea it was: truly into dry land the sea has been turned, now there thirsts for sweet water the world that with salt water was filled. Who has done this? He "that has turned the sea into dry land." Now the soul of all the Gentiles says what? "My soul is as it were land without water to You." "That has turned the sea into dry land. In the river they shall pass over on foot." Those same persons that have been turned into dry land, though they were before sea, "in the river on foot shall pass over." What is the river? The river is all the mortality of the world. Observe a river: some things come and pass by, other things that are to pass by do succeed. Is it not thus with the water of a river, that from earth springs and flows? Every one that is born must needs give place to one going to be born: and all this order of things rolling along is a kind of river. Into this river let not the soul greedily throw herself, let her not throw herself, but let her stand still. And how shall she pass over the pleasures of things doomed to perish? Let her believe in Christ, and she will pass over on foot: she passes over with Him for Leader, on foot she passes over.
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
Flood — An event recorded in Gen. 7 and 8. (See DELUGE.) In Josh. 24:2, 3, 14, 15, the word “flood” (R.V., “river”) means the river Euphrates. In Ps. 66:6, this word refers to the river Jordan.
Red Sea — The sea so called extends along the west coast of Arabia for about 1,400 miles, and separates Asia from Africa. It is connected with the Indian Ocean, of which it is an arm, by the Strait of…
River — (1.) Heb. ‘aphik, properly the channel or ravine that holds water (2 Sam. 22:16), translated “brook,” “river,” “stream,” but not necessarily a perennial stream (Ezek. 6:3; 31:12; 32:6; 34:13). (2.)…
Red Sea · 14;15:1,4,11,19; — 14;15:1,4,11,19;
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).
Although the summons: Come and see... (borrowed apparently from Psa 46:9), is called forth by contemporary manifestations of God's power, the consequences of which now lie open to view, the rendering of Psa 66:6, "then will we rejoice in Him," is nevertheless unnatural, and, rightly looked at, neither grammar nor the matter requires it. For since שׁם in this passage is equivalent to אז, and the future after אז takes the signification of an aorist; and since the cohortative form of the future can also (e.g., after עד, Psa 73:7, and in clauses having a hypothetical sense) be referred to the past, and does sometimes at least occur where the writer throws himself back into the past (Sa2 22:38),…
The story of the Exodus and God’s victory over the sea evokes responses of astonishment (66:5) and worship (66:6). God works miracles . . . for people in order to redeem them for himself.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 66:6
He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.
He turned the sea into dry land. It was no slight miracle to divide a pathway through such a sea, and to make it fit for the traffic of a whole nation. He who did this can do anything, and must be God, the worthy object of adoration. The Christian's inference is that no obstacle in his journey heavenward need hinder him, for the sea could not hinder Israel, and even death itself shall be as life; the sea shall be dry land when God's presence is felt. They went through the flood on foot. Through the river the tribes passed dry shod, Jordan was afraid because of them.
"What ailed thee, O thou m…
