Bible Strands
Isaiah 44:27
who says to the depths of the sea, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your currents,’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker is Yahweh, addressing the depths of the sea within the immediate context of confirming His servant’s message and preparing for Jerusalem’s restoration. This declaration occurs directly before naming Cyrus as the agent who will fulfill divine desire.
The words — The Hebrew term צוּלָה (tzu.Lah) denotes the ocean-deep or abyss, while אוֹבִישׁ ('o.Vish) translates as I will make dry. These words frame the command to halt the sea’s currents as a direct exercise of sovereign authority.
The thread — This pattern of God commanding waters to dry up appears in Isaiah 42:15, Jeremiah 50:38, and Jeremiah 51:36. Each passage applies the identical language of drying waters to divine judgment and the removal of hostile powers.
Why it lands — The text states that natural forces submit to divine command without independent agency. It requires the reader to accept that historical restoration depends entirely on sovereign decree rather than human capability.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:
Cross-references
- Isaiah 42:15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn the rivers into dry land and drain the marshes.
- Jeremiah 50:38 A drought is upon her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is a land of graven images, and the people go mad over idols.
- Jeremiah 51:36 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I will plead your case and take vengeance on your behalf; I will dry up her sea and make her springs run dry.
- Psalms 74:15 You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
- Isaiah 11:15 The LORD will devote to destruction the gulf of the Sea of Egypt; with a scorching wind He will sweep His hand over the Euphrates. He will split it into seven streams for men to cross with dry sandals.
- Isaiah 43:16 Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the surging waters,
- Isaiah 51:15 For I am the LORD your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of Hosts is His name.
- Jeremiah 51:32 The fords have been seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers are terrified.”
- Revelation 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East.