Bible Strands
Psalms 18:16
He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses God, describing the moment immediately after His rebuke exposed the foundations of the world and before recounting rescue from overwhelming foes.
The words — יִשְׁלַח (yishlach) means he stretched out, and מִמַּיִם רַבִּים (mimayim rabbim) translates literally from many waters. These terms anchor the description of divine intervention in physical rescue imagery.
The thread — The identical phrasing appears in 2 Samuel 22:17, while Psalm 144:7 echoes the request to be drawn from deep waters. Psalm 57:3 parallels the downward reach of heaven but focuses on rebuking trampling foes rather than water imagery.
Why it lands — The text states that God actively seized the speaker and pulled him from overwhelming danger. A reader must acknowledge that deliverance depends on divine action rather than personal 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
He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 22:17 He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters.
- Psalms 144:7 Reach down from on high; set me free and rescue me from the deep waters, from the grasp of foreigners,
- Psalms 57:3 He reaches down from heaven and saves me; He rebukes those who trample me. Selah God sends forth His loving devotion and His truth.
- Jonah 2:5 The waters engulfed me to take my life; the watery depths closed around me; the seaweed wrapped around my head.
- Psalms 18:43 You have delivered me from the strife of the people; You have made me the head of nations; a people I had not known shall serve me.
- Exodus 2:10 When the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses and explained, “I drew him out of the water.”
- Psalms 32:6 Therefore let all the godly pray to You while You may be found. Surely when great waters rise, they will not come near.
- Psalms 40:1 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry.
- Revelation 17:15 Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute was seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.