Bible Strands
Psalms 29:6
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist describes Yahweh’s voice acting upon the landscape immediately after the shattering of Lebanon’s cedars. This declaration occurs within a poetic hymn that catalogs divine power over the natural world.
The words — The verb וַיְרַקִּדֵם (va-yə-ḵîl-dêm) literally means "he made them skip" or "he caused them to dance." It is paired with כְּעֵגֶל (kə-‘ê-gel), "like a calf," to describe the sudden, vigorous movement of the mountains.
The thread — The skipping mountain imagery reappears in Psalms 114:4, while the wild ox simile connects to Numbers 23:22 and Deuteronomy 3:9, where Sirion is identified as an alternate name for the mountain.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to attribute the mountains' violent motion directly to divine speech rather than natural causes. A reader must acknowledge that creation responds to God's voice with involuntary, physical force.
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 maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
Cross-references
- Numbers 23:22 God brought them out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox.
- Deuteronomy 3:9 which the Sidonians call Sirion but the Amorites call Senir—
- Psalms 114:4 the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
- Psalms 92:10 But You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; with fine oil I have been anointed.
- Jeremiah 4:23 I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.
- Habakkuk 3:6 He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations; the ancient mountains crumbled; the perpetual hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting.
- Revelation 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.