Psalms 104:6
You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
English Standard Version (ESV)
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This verse doesn't describe Noah's Flood, but rather the very beginning of creation when the earth was already formed with mountains, yet entirely submerged. The imagery of water as a "garment" isn't about chaos, but about God's deliberate, beautiful covering of the nascent world before it was revealed.
This passage opens a majestic poem of praise for God's creative power, starting with the initial ordering of the cosmos. The psalmist describes the earth at its very beginning, not as formless chaos, but as land already shaped with mountains, entirely submerged beneath a vast, garment-like expanse of water. This scene sets the stage for God's powerful command that will gather these waters, revealing the dry land and preparing the world for life.
Imagine the earth before it was divided into land and sea. What did it look like? The Psalmist paints a picture of an overwhelming, universal ocean.
This verse isn't talking about Noah's flood! It's taking us way back to the very beginning of creation, even before God said, 'Let there be dry land.'
A World of Water
Did God create mountains only to immediately cover them? This verse suggests a surprising order to creation.
It's fascinating that the Psalmist describes the mountains as already existing before the waters receded. This isn't a picture of a formless void, but of a pre-formed earth already sculpted with hills and valleys, all under the primeval ocean.
A Sculpted Beginning
Understand the original words
tehom · Hebrew Noun
A term referring to the primordial chaotic waters or the subterranean ocean. In creation narratives, it signifies the raw, uncontrolled elements that God brings into subjection and order.
c. 1400 BC
Composition of the Book of Psalms
The Book of Psalms, a collection of ancient Hebrew worship songs and prayers, is compiled. This particular psalm likely draws on ancient creation traditions and poetic imagery familiar to the Israelites.
c. 1400 BC
Oral Traditions of Creation
The story of creation, as later written in Genesis 1, is part of the Israelite oral tradition. This imagery of God's creative power over the primordial waters is deeply ingrained in their understanding of God and the world.
c. 1400 BC— this verse
Vivid Imagery of Early Earth
The psalm vividly describes the earliest state of the earth, where the land was entirely covered by a vast expanse of water, with even the highest mountain peaks submerged.
c. 1400 BC
God's Creative Command
The text emphasizes that God's powerful command ('rebuke') and voice ('thunder') were sufficient to separate the waters and reveal the dry land, establishing order from the watery chaos.
This passage directly parallels the description of the early earth being covered by 'the deep' or 'waters' before the dry land appeared, which is the same imagery used in Psalm 104:6.
Genesis 7:19While Psalm 104:6 is primarily about creation, its vivid language of waters covering mountains can also evoke the immense power of the global flood described here, a time when waters also exceeded the highest points.
Job 38:8-11This passage from Job describes God setting boundaries for the sea, using similar imagery of clothing the waters with a garment and preventing them from overwhelming the land, mirroring the psalmist's depiction of God's control over the waters.
2 Peter 3:5-6The Apostle Peter explicitly connects the creation event described in Genesis (and echoed in Psalm 104:6) with the great flood, highlighting God's power to bring both into existence and to judge through water.
bensonPsalms 104:6: "Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains."
Psalm 104:6-7 . Thou coveredst it with the deep — That is, in the first creation, of which the psalmist is here speaking, when the earth, while yet without form, was covered all over, and, as it were, clothed with the great deep, that vast expansion of air and waters; the waters stood above the mountains — Those which are now the highest mountains were all under that liquid element. At thy r…
ellicottPsalms 104:6: "Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains."
(6) The deep. —The water-world is first considered as a vast garment wrapped round the earth, so that the mountain-tops are covered. But here it is beyond its right, and the Divine rebuke forces it to retire within narrower limits. It is noticeable that the idea of a chaos finds no place in the poetic conception of the world’s genesis. The primitive world is not formless, but has its mountai…
This verse doesn't describe Noah's Flood, but rather the very beginning of creation when the earth was already formed with mountains, yet entirely submerged. The imagery of water as a "garment" isn't about chaos, but about God's deliberate, beautiful covering of the nascent world before it was revealed.
This passage opens a majestic poem of praise for God's creative power, starting with the initial ordering of the cosmos. The psalmist describes the earth at its very beginning, not as formless chaos, but as land already shaped with mountains, entirely submerged beneath a vast, garment-like expanse of water. This scene sets the stage for God's powerful command that will gather these waters, revealing the dry land and preparing the world for life.
This passage opens a majestic poem of praise for God's creative power, starting with the initial ordering of the cosmos. The psalmist describes the earth at its very beginning, not as formless chaos, but as land already shaped with mountains, entirely submerged beneath a vast, garment-like expanse of water. This scene sets the stage for God's powerful command that will gather these waters, revealing the dry land and preparing the world for life.
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"You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains." — This verse doesn't describe Noah's Flood, but rather the very beginning of creation when the earth was already formed with mountains, yet entirely submerged. The imagery of water as a "garment" isn't…
