Psalms 74 · Verse 13

Psalms 74:13

Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Psalms 74:13, King James Version

Psalms 74:13 in other translations

BSBYou divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;
WEBYou divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
ASVThou didst divide the sea by thy strength: Thou brakest the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters.
YLTThou hast broken by Thy strength a sea- monster, Thou hast shivered Heads of dragons by the waters,
DARBYThou didst divide the sea by thy strength; thou didst break the heads of the monsters on the waters:
BBEThe sea was parted in two by your strength; the heads of the great sea-beasts were broken.
WebsterThou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou didst break the heads of the dragons in the waters.

What does Psalms 74:13 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 74:13-15
13-15. Examples of the "salvation wrought" are cited. divide the sea--that is, Red Sea. brakest ... waters--Pharaoh and his host (compare Is 51:9, 10; Eze 29:3, 4).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 13 Thou didst divide the sea - When our fathers came from Egypt. Thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters - Pharaoh, his captains, and all his hosts were drowned in the Red Sea, when attempting to pursue them.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalms 74:12-17

The church silences her own complaints. What God had done for his people, as their King of old, encouraged them to depend on him. It was the Lord's doing, none besides could do it. This providence was food to faith and hope, to support and encourage in difficulties. The God of Israel is the God of nature. He that is faithful to his covenant about the day and the night, will never cast off those whom he has chosen…

Read the full comment on Psalms 74:12-17 →

Psalms 74:13 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אַתָּ֤ה'a.TahyouH859
פוֹרַ֣רְתָּfo.Rar.tayou dividedH6565
בְעָזְּךָ֣ve.'a.ze.Khaby strength yourH5797
יָ֑םYam[the] seaH3220
שִׁבַּ֖רְתָּshi.Bar.tayou shatteredH7665
רָאשֵׁ֥יra.Shei[the] heads ofH7218
תַ֝נִּינִ֗יםta.ni.Nimsea monstersH8577
עַל\־'al-onH5921
הַמָּֽיִם\׃ha.Ma.yimthe watersH4325

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 74:13

  • Exodus 14:21

    And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

  • Psalms 78:13

    He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.

  • Isaiah 51:9-10

    Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?

  • Ezekiel 29:3

    Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.

  • Ezekiel 32:2

    Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.

  • Psalms 136:13-18

    To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever: And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy endureth for ever: But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: for his mercy endureth for ever. To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy endureth for ever. …

  • Psalms 106:8-9

    Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

  • Psalms 66:6

    He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.

  • Isaiah 11:15-16

    And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

  • Exodus 14:28

    And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.

  • Nehemiah 9:11

    And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
divide. Heb. break.
66:6; 78:13; 106:8,9; 136:13-18; Ex 14:21; Ne 9:11; Isa 11:15,16
brakest.
Ex 14:28; Isa 51:9,10; Eze 29:3
dragons. or, whales.
Eze 32:2

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Psalms 74:12

    For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

  • Psalms 74:13

    Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.

  • Psalms 74:14

    Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

Read all of Psalms 74

Psalms 74:13 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Tú hendiste la mar con tu fortaleza: quebrantaste cabezas de ballenas en las aguas.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Tu as fendu la mer par ta puissance, tu as brisé les têtes des monstres sur les eaux;
German
Elberfelder 1871
Du zerteiltest das Meer durch deine Macht, zerschelltest die Häupter der Wasserungeheuer auf den Wassern.