You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
English Standard Version (ESV)
This isn't just describing the flood; it's painting a picture of creation itself, where the earth was once completely submerged, with even the highest peaks hidden beneath a vast, garment-like ocean. God's power is evident not just in separating the waters later, but in this initial, overwhelming watery embrace.
You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The psalm begins with praise for God’s majestic creation, detailing how He established the earth and stretched out the heavens. This verse then vividly describes the initial state of the earth during creation week, before the land was separated from the waters, depicting a world completely submerged as if swaddled in a garment of deep water. The imagery contrasts this primordial state with the ordered world God established by His powerful word, which commanded the waters to recede and reveal the dry land.
Imagine the very first moments of creation. Before land, before life, there was just water. How does the psalmist describe this overwhelming flood?
The psalmist paints a powerful picture in verse 6: 'You covered it with the deep as with a garment.' This isn't just describing a lot of water; it's presenting the vast, unformed waters of early creation as God's own 'garment' draped around the world.
A World Drenched
When you read about overwhelming waters, it's easy to think of Noah's Flood. But what does the context tell us this verse is really about?
It’s crucial to understand that Psalm 104:6 isn’t referring to Noah’s Flood. While the language might echo the Flood narrative, its primary context is the very of creation.
Ask a follow-up
The Genesis Snapshot
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.
The imagery of God's creative power, especially the primordial waters, wasn't just abstract theology but a reminder of His ultimate authority, resonating deeply with ancient Israelites facing their own existential crises.
c. 1400-1000 BC— this verse
Composition of Psalm 104
This psalm is traditionally attributed to David and likely reflects a time of established Israelite monarchy, possibly during or after his reign. It praises God as Creator.
c. 1400 BC
Traditional dating of Genesis creation account
The creation narrative in Genesis 1, particularly the description of the 'deep' covering the earth, serves as a key intertextual reference for Psalm 104.
c. 586 BC
Fall of Jerusalem and Babylonian Exile
While Psalm 104 is likely earlier, the Babylonian Exile would have provided a context where reflection on God's creative power and sovereignty over chaos was deeply relevant to a displaced people.
This passage directly describes the initial state of the earth, 'a formless void,' covered by 'darkness and the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters,' echoing the 'deep as with a garment' imagery.
Job 38:8-11God's dialogue with Job here presents a similar theme, describing how God 'enclosed the sea with gates' and decreed its boundaries, 'This far you may come, and no farther,' which parallels the idea of divine control over the chaotic waters.
2 Peter 3:5-6This New Testament passage explicitly connects the creation account of the 'waters' with the judgment of the flood, highlighting how the earth was 'formed out of water and by water' and then destroyed by water, linking the creation imagery to a theme of judgment.
Genesis 7:11-12While Psalm 104:6 is generally understood to refer to creation, the description of waters standing above mountains can also bring to mind the immense scale of the global flood, where 'the fountains of the great deep burst forth' and covered the highest peaks.
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 isn't just describing the flood; it's painting a picture of creation itself, where the earth was once completely submerged, with even the highest peaks hidden beneath a vast, garment-like ocean. God's power is evident not just in separating the waters later, but in this initial, overwhelming watery embrace.
The psalm begins with praise for God’s majestic creation, detailing how He established the earth and stretched out the heavens. This verse then vividly describes the initial state of the earth during creation week, before the land was separated from the waters, depicting a world completely submerged as if swaddled in a garment of deep water. The imagery contrasts this primordial state with the ordered world God established by His powerful word, which commanded the waters to recede and reveal the dry land.
The psalm begins with praise for God’s majestic creation, detailing how He established the earth and stretched out the heavens. This verse then vividly describes the initial state of the earth during creation week, before the land was separated from the waters, depicting a world completely submerged as if swaddled in a garment of deep water. The imagery contrasts this primordial state with the ordered world God established by His powerful word, which commanded the waters to recede and reveal the dry land.
"You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains." — This isn't just describing the flood; it's painting a picture of creation itself, where the earth was once completely submerged, with even the highest peaks hidden beneath a vast, garment-like ocean.…
Get the original Greek and Hebrew, verse-by-verse context, and related passages inside the app.
Last reviewed October 2026