'Waters' in the Bible

He reached from on high, He took me;He drew me out of many waters.

He lets me lie down in green pastures;He leads me beside the still and quiet waters.

The voice of the Lord is upon the waters;The God of glory thunders;The Lord is over many waters.

Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You [for forgiveness] in a time when You [are near and] may be found;Surely when the great waters [of trial and distressing times] overflow they will not reach [the spirit in] him.

He gathers the waters of the sea together as in a wineskin;He puts the deeps in storehouses.

Though its waters roar and foam,Though the mountains tremble at its roaring. Selah.

Save me, O God,For the waters have threatened my life [they have come up to my neck].

I have sunk in deep mire, where there is no foothold;I have come into deep waters, where a flood overwhelms me.

Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink;Let me be rescued from those who hate me and from the deep waters.

Therefore his people return to this place,And waters of abundance [offered by the irreverent] are [blindly] drunk by them.

You divided the [Red] Sea by Your strength;You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

The waters [of the Red Sea] saw You, O God;The waters saw You, they were in anguish;The deeps also trembled.

Your way [of escape for Your people] was through the sea,And Your paths through the great waters,And Your footprints were not traceable.

He divided the [Red] Sea and allowed them to pass through it,And He made the waters stand up like [water behind] a dam.

He brought streams also from the rock [at Rephidim and Kadesh]And caused waters to run down like rivers.

“Behold, He struck the rock so that waters gushed outAnd the streams overflowed;Can He give bread also?Or will He provide meat for His people?”

“You called in [the time of] trouble and I rescued you;I answered you in the secret place of thunder;I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

More than the sounds of many waters,More than the mighty breakers of the sea,The Lord on high is mighty.

Who lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters [above the firmament],Who makes the clouds His chariot,Who walks on the wings of the wind,

You covered it with the deep as with a garment;The waters were standing above the mountains.

You set a boundary [for the waters] that they may not cross over,So that they will not return to cover the earth.

You send springs into the valleys;Their waters flow among the mountains.

He waters the mountains from His upper chambers;The earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works.

He turned Egypt’s waters into bloodAnd caused their fish to die.

And the waters covered their adversaries;Not one of them was left.

They provoked Him to anger at the waters of Meribah,So that it went hard with Moses on their account;

Those who go down to the sea in ships,Who do business on great waters;

Who turned the rock into a pool of water,The flint into a fountain of water.

Then the waters would have engulfed us,The torrent would have swept over our soul;

Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul.”

To Him who stretched out the earth upon the waters,For His lovingkindness endures forever;

Stretch out Your hand from above;Set me free and rescue me from great waters,Out of the hands of [hostile] foreigners [who surround us]

He sends out His word and melts the ice;He causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow.

Praise Him, highest heavens,And the waters above the heavens!

Drink water from your own cistern [of a pure marriage relationship]And fresh running water from your own well.

When He set for the sea its boundarySo that the waters would not transgress [the boundaries set by] His command,When He marked out the foundations of the earth—

“Stolen waters (pleasures) are sweet [because they are forbidden];And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

The generous man [is a source of blessing and] shall be prosperous and enriched,And he who waters will himself be watered [reaping the generosity he has sown].

The words of a man’s mouth are like deep waters [copious and difficult to fathom];The fountain of [mature, godly] wisdom is like a bubbling stream [sparkling, fresh, pure, and life-giving].

Who has ascended into heaven and descended?Who has gathered the wind in His fists?Who has bound the waters in His garment?Who has established all the ends of the earth?What is His name, and what is His Son’s name?Certainly you know!

Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, [be diligently active, make thoughtful decisions], for you will find it after many days.

“You are a fountain in a garden,A well of fresh and living water,And streams flowing from Lebanon.”

“Many waters cannot quench love,Nor can rivers drown it.If a man would offer all the riches of his house for love,It would be utterly scorned and despised.”

“Because these people (Judah) have refused the gently flowing waters of ShiloahAnd rejoice in Rezin [the king of Aram] and Remaliah’s son [Pekah the king of Israel],

Now therefore, listen carefully, the Lord is about to bring on them the waters of the [Euphrates] River, strong and abundant—The king of Assyria and all his glory;And it will rise over all its channels and canals and go far beyond its banks.

They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LordAs the waters cover the sea.

For the waters of Nimrim are desolate.Indeed the grass is withered, the new growth dies;There is no green thing.

For the waters of Dimon are full of blood;Yet I will bring even more woes on Dimon—A lion upon those of Moab who escape and upon the remnant of the land.

Oh, the uproar of many peoplesWho roar like the roaring of the seas,And the noise of nationsWho roar like the rumbling of mighty waters!

The nations roar on like the roaring of many waters,But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away,And be chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind,Or like whirling dust before the storm.

Which sends ambassadors by the sea,Even in vessels of papyrus on the surface of the waters.Go, swift messengers, to a nation [of people] tall and smooth (clean shaven),To a people feared far and wide,A powerful and oppressive nationWhose land the rivers divide.

The waters from the sea will dry up,And the river will be parched and dry.

The fishermen will lament (cry out in grief),And all those who cast a hook into the Nile will mourn,And those who spread nets upon the waters will languish.

The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning the Desert of the Sea (the seasonally flooded plains just south of Babylon):As windstorms in the Negev (the South) sweep through,So it (God’s judgment) comes from the desert, from [the hostile armies of] a terrifying land.

You saw that the breachesIn the wall of the City of David [the citadel of Zion] were many;You collected [within the city’s walls] the waters of the Lower Pool (Siloam).

And they were on great waters.The grain of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile River, was Tyre’s revenue;And she was the market of nations.

Listen carefully, the Lord has a strong and mighty agent [the Assyrian];Like a tempest of hail, a disastrous storm,Like a tempest of mighty overflowing waters,He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.

“I will make justice the measuring lineAnd righteousness the mason’s level;Then hail will sweep away the refuge of liesAnd waters will flood over the secret [hiding] place.

Blessed (happy, fortunate) are you who cast your seed upon all waters [when the river overflows its banks and irrigates the land],You who allow the ox and the donkey to roam freely.

Then the lame will leap like a deer,And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.For waters will break forth in the wildernessAnd streams in the desert.

‘I dug wells and drank [foreign] waters,And with the sole of my feet I dried upAll the canals [of the Nile] of Egypt.’

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,And marked off the heavens with a span [of the hand],And calculated the dust of the earth with a measure,And weighed the mountains in a balanceAnd the hills in a pair of scales?

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;And through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you.When you walk through fire, you will not be scorched,Nor will the flame burn you.

This is what the Lord says,He who makes a way through the seaAnd a path through the mighty waters,

“The beasts of the field will honor Me,Jackals and ostriches,Because I have given waters in the wildernessAnd rivers in the desert,To give drink to My people, My chosen.

They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts.He made the waters flow out of the rock for them;He split the rock and the waters flowed.

Was it not You who dried up the [Red] Sea,The waters of the great deep,Who made the depths of the sea a pathwayFor the redeemed to cross over?

“For this is like the waters of Noah to Me,As I swore [an oath] that the waters of NoahWould not flood the earth again;In the same way I have sworn that I will not be angry with youNor will I rebuke you.

“Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;And you who have no money come, buy grain and eat.Come, buy wine and milkWithout money and without cost [simply accept it as a gift from God].

But the wicked are like the tossing sea,For it cannot be quiet,And its waters toss up mire and mud.

“And the Lord will continually guide you,And satisfy your soul in scorched and dry places,And give strength to your bones;And you will be like a watered garden,And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

Who caused His glorious arm and infinite power to go at the right hand of Moses,Dividing the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name,

As [sure as] fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—To make Your name known to Your adversaries,That the nations may tremble at Your presence!

“For My people have committed two evils:They have abandoned (rejected) Me,The fountain of living water,And they have carved out their own cisterns,Broken cisternsThat cannot hold water.

“Now what are you doing by going to Egypt [in search of an ally],To drink the [muddy] waters of the Nile?Or what are you doing by going to Assyria [in search of an ally],To drink the [muddy] waters of the Euphrates?

“As a fountain springs up and pours out its fresh waters,So she [continually] pours out her fresh wickedness.Violence and destruction are heard inside her [walls];Sickness and wounds are always before Me.

Oh that my head were watersAnd my eyes a fountain of tears,That I might weep day and nightFor the slain of the daughter of my people!

When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,And He causes the clouds and the mist to ascend from the end of the earth;He makes lightning for the rain,And brings out the wind from His treasuries and from His storehouses.

Why has my pain been perpetualAnd my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?Will you indeed be to me like a deceptive brookWith water that is unreliable?

“For he will be [nourished] like a tree planted by the waters,That spreads out its roots by the river;And will not fear the heat when it comes;But its leaves will be green and moist.And it will not be anxious and concerned in a year of droughtNor stop bearing fruit.

O Lord, the hope of Israel,All who abandon You will be shamed.Those who turn away on earth will be written down,Because they have abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living waters.

‘Will the snow of [Mount] Lebanon melt and vanish from its rocks [which tower above Israel]?Will the cold, rushing waters of foreign lands [that flow down from the distant land] be dried up?

Who is this that rises up like the Nile [River],Like the rivers [in the delta of Egypt] whose waters surge about?

Egypt rises like the Nile,Even like the rivers whose waters surge about.And He has said, “I will rise, I will cover that land;I will certainly destroy the city and its inhabitants.”

Thus says the Lord:“Behold, waters are going to rise out of the north (Babylonia)And become an overflowing streamAnd overflow the land and all that is in it,The city and those who live in it.Then the people will cry out,And all the inhabitants of the land [of Philistia] will wail.

From the outcry at Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have raised their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; for even the waters of Nimrim will become desolations.

“A drought on her waters, and they will dry up!For it is a land of [worthless] idols,And they are mad over fearsome idols [those objects of terror in which they foolishly trust].

[O Babylon] you who live by many waters,Rich in treasures,Your end has come,And the line measuring your life is cut.

When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,And He causes the clouds to ascend from the ends of the earth.He makes lightnings for the rainAnd brings out the wind from His storehouses.

For the Lord is going to destroy Babylon and make her a ruin,And He will still her great voice [that hums with city life].And the waves [of her conquerors] roar like great waters,The noise of their voices is raised up [like the marching of an army].

The waters ran down on my head;I said, “I am cut off (destroyed)!”

As they moved, I also heard the sound of their wings like the sound of great [rushing] waters, like the voice of the Almighty, the sound of tumult like the noise of an army camp. Whenever they came to a stop, they lowered their wings.

He also took some of the seed of the land (Zedekiah, of the royal family) and planted it in fertile soil and a fruitful field; he placed it beside abundant waters and set it like a willow tree.

‘Your mother [Jerusalem] was like a vine in your vineyard,Planted by the waters;It was fruitful and full of branchesBecause of abundant water.

For thus says the Lord God, “When I make you a desolate city, like the cities which are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you and great waters cover you,

“Your rowers have brought youInto great and deep waters;The east wind has broken and shipwrecked youIn the heart of the seas.

‘Now you are shattered by the seasIn the depths of the waters;Your merchandise and all your crewHave gone down with you.

‘The waters nourished it, the deep [underground waters] made it grow tall.Its rivers ran all around the place where it was planted,Sending out its streams to all the trees (other nations) of the field.

‘So it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches;For its roots extended [downward] to great waters.

so that none of the trees by the waters may exalt themselves because of their height, nor set their top among the clouds, nor their well-watered mighty ones stand [arrogantly] in their height. For they have all been handed over to death, to the earth beneath, among the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit (the grave).”