Bible Strands
Isaiah 51:10
Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea for the redeemed to cross over?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The speaker, Yahweh, addresses Israel by recalling past deliverance to strengthen present faith. The statement sits between a call to awaken the Lord's mighty arm and a declaration of the redeemed's joyful return to Zion.
The words — The phrase אַתְּ־הִיא (at-hi') translates literally to "it was you," isolating divine agency. The participle הַמַּחֲרֶבֶת (ha-macharevet) means "the one who dried up," directly modifying the subject while תְּהוֹם רַבָּה (tehom rabbah) names the "great deep" whose waters were removed.
The thread — The text explicitly recalls the sea-crossing event of Exodus 14:21 and the deliverance theme of Exodus 15:13. It also establishes a prophetic pattern later restated in Isaiah 43:16 regarding God making a path through surging waters.
Why it lands — The text asserts that God alone removed the waters and prepared a route for the redeemed to cross. It requires the reader to attribute the way forward to divine action 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
Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
Cross-references
- Isaiah 43:16 Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the surging waters,
- Exodus 14:21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,
- Exodus 15:13 With loving devotion You will lead the people You have redeemed; with Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling.
- Isaiah 50:2 Why was no one there when I arrived? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem you? Or do I lack the strength to deliver you? Behold, My rebuke dries up the sea; I turn the rivers into a desert; the fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.
- Isaiah 63:11 Then His people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is He who brought them through the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is the One who set His Holy Spirit among them,
- Psalms 74:13 You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
- 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.