Bible Strands
Psalms 107:35
He turns a desert into pools of water and a dry land into flowing springs.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the redeemed community, recounting God’s reversal of judgment where He transforms barren territory into habitable land. This declaration occurs within a communal thanksgiving liturgy that follows descriptions of the people’s wandering and affliction.
The words — יָשֵׂ֣ם (ya.Sem) means “He made” or “He set,” and מִ֭דְבָּר (Mid.bor) denotes “a wilderness” or “desert.” The verb frames the action as a deliberate divine placement rather than a natural process.
The thread — The motif of God creating water in arid places appears in Psalms 114:8 and Isaiah 35:6. Isaiah 41:17–18 links the motif to God’s promise to answer the thirsty by opening rivers on bare heights.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that God’s power operates directly on unproductive ground to sustain life. Readers must account for this intervention when assessing how habitable land is established.
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
He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.
Cross-references
- Psalms 114:8 who turned the rock into a pool, the flint into a fountain of water!
- Isaiah 35:6 Then the lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue will shout for joy. For waters will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
- Isaiah 41:17 The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
- Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.
- 2 Kings 3:16 and he said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Dig this valley full of ditches.’
- Numbers 21:16 From there they went on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people so that I may give them water.”
- Ezekiel 47:6 “Son of man, do you see this?” he asked. Then he led me back to the bank of the river.