Bible Strands
Psalms 33:6
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David (per the superscription) addresses the community of Israel in a call to praise, moving from God's character (v. 5) to His creative acts (vv. 6–7).
The words — דְּבַר (davar) carries the sense of a spoken command or decree, not mere utterance; ר֣וּחַ (ruach) here is the breath issuing from the mouth, the physical force behind the word.
The thread — Hebrews 11:3 and 2 Peter 3:5 both echo the "by God's word" formulation, while Job 33:4 applies ruach to the giving of life rather than the forming of the cosmos.
Why it lands — The verse asks you to hold creation as an act of deliberate speech, not an impersonal process, and to weigh that seriously when you reason about the origin of the world.
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
By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
Cross-references
- Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
- Job 33:4 The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
- 2 Peter 3:5 But they deliberately overlook the fact that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water,
- John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
- Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
- Psalms 33:9 For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm.
- Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
- Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- Genesis 6:7 So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”
- John 20:22 When He had said this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.