Bible Strands
Psalms 95:5
The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the congregation within a liturgical call to worship, declaring God’s sovereign ownership over the natural world. This declaration serves as the theological foundation for the subsequent command to bow down and kneel before the LORD.
The words — יַבֶּשֶׁת (yabbeset) denotes the dry land, while יָצָרוּ (yatsaru) means they formed or shaped, describing God’s hands actively crafting the earth’s surface.
The thread — This creation motif echoes Genesis 1:9, where God gathers the waters to reveal dry land, and Proverbs 8:29, which describes Him setting a boundary for the sea. Job 38:10 further parallels the theme by recounting God fixing the sea’s foundations and securing its barriers.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that the creator owns and shaped the natural world, providing the objective basis for the immediate call to worship. It requires the reader to align their posture of reverence with the factual reality of God’s work.
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
The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
Cross-references
- Genesis 1:9 And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.
- Proverbs 8:29 when He set a boundary for the sea, so that the waters would not surpass His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth.
- Job 38:10 when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
- Psalms 33:7 He piles up the waters of the sea; He puts the depths into storehouses.
- Psalms 146:6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He remains faithful forever.
- Jeremiah 5:22 Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.
- Jonah 1:9 “I am a Hebrew,” replied Jonah. “I worship the LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”
- Proverbs 8:26 before He made the land or fields, or any of the dust of the earth.