Psalms 29:6
He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.
English Standard Version (ESV)
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Psalms 29:6
He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.
English Standard Version (ESV)
This page isn't yet indexed by search engines.
The power of God's voice is so immense that it doesn't just break the cedars, it makes entire mountainsides, specifically the majestic Lebanon and Sirion, leap and bound like playful young animals. This isn't about an earthquake, but a poetic, awe-inspiring image showing how even the most solid parts of creation can be made to quiver and move under the force of God's pronouncements.
The psalm is building a powerful picture of God's voice, presented as thunder, roaring across the land. After describing how this divine voice shatters the mighty cedars of Lebanon, the focus shifts to the very mountains themselves, showing how they violently shake and tremble under the force of the storm. This description of the mountains' powerful reaction leads into verses about lightning, the wilderness quaking, and the wild animals' distress.
When God's voice thunders, even the mightiest natural features don't just stand still. They react!
This verse uses vivid imagery to show the incredible power of God's voice, likening it to a thunderstorm. Notice how the psalmist personifies mountains like Lebanon and Sirion, making them 'skip like a calf' and 'a young wild ox.'
A Divine Performance
This isn't just poetic language; it's a depiction of nature responding to its Creator. When God speaks through the storm, the mountains, usually seen as steadfast and unmoving, are shown to be violently affected. They tremble, they shake, they 'skip.' This demonstrates that the natural world is not an independent force but is subject to God's command and power.
Beyond the Physical
Commentators suggest this imagery isn't just about the physical shaking of the earth. It's a way to highlight God's awesome power that even the proud and unthinking humans should recognize. While inanimate nature trembles, the psalmist implies a rebuke to humanity for its often stubborn indifference to God's majestic displays.
Why compare a mountain to a wild ox? It’s all about showcasing God’s overwhelming power!
The psalm compares the mountains Lebanon and Sirion to a 'young wild ox' (sometimes translated as unicorn in older versions). This isn't just any animal; the wild ox, or reem, was known for its immense strength, ferocity, and wildness.
Symbol of Untamed Power
By likening the mountains' reaction to a young, powerful wild ox, the psalmist emphasizes the sheer force and energy unleashed by God's voice. It conveys a sense of wild, unpredictable, yet powerfully directed movement. The mountains, which are symbols of stability and permanence, are depicted as reacting with the vigor of a powerful, untamed creature.
Divine Control Over Chaos
This imagery highlights that while the might seem wild and chaotic (like a skipping calf or a bucking ox), it is entirely under God's control. He directs this power. He commands the storm, and nature’s most powerful elements respond. It’s a beautiful paradox: the display of untamed power is actually a demonstration of divine sovereignty.
Understand the original words
Lebanon · Hebrew Proper Noun
A reference to the massive mountain range in northern Israel, often used as a symbol of majesty, strength, and the heights of God's creation. It is known for its prominent cedar trees, which represent glory and stability.
Siryon · Hebrew Proper Noun
A name for Mount Hermon, representing extreme height and northern boundary markers of the land. In the Old Testament, it signifies God’s power over the most impressive physical landmarks.
This psalm uses the dramatic imagery of a powerful thunderstorm sweeping across the land, affecting the majestic mountains of Lebanon and Sirion (Hermon). The reference to these specific, well-known northern landmarks grounds the psalm's depiction of God's awesome power in the familiar geography of ancient Israel, highlighting God's sovereignty over creation itself.
c. 1000 BC— this verse
Reign of King David
The Psalms were largely composed and compiled during the United Monarchy and early divided kingdom, a period of established Israelite identity and national consciousness. David, traditionally credited with authorship of many psalms, would have been intimately familiar with the geography of the land.
c. 10th-8th century BC
Peak of Phoenician and Aramean Influence
The regions of Lebanon and Mount Hermon (Sirion) were significant geopolitical and cultural centers, home to powerful Phoenician and Aramean peoples. Their natural grandeur and importance in the ancient Near East made them potent symbols.
c. 722 BC
Fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel
The Assyrian conquest and subsequent fall of Israel profoundly impacted the religious and political landscape of the Levant. This period of upheaval and divine judgment might have intensified reflections on God's sovereign power over nature.
This passage also uses vivid imagery of mountains 'skipping' and 'leaping' in response to God's power, paralleling the imagery of Lebanon and Sirion in Psalm 29:6.
Job 39:19-25This section describes the mighty warhorse, emphasizing its strength and ferocity in battle, which can be conceptually linked to the powerful, untamed force depicted by the 'young wild ox' or 'unicorn' that Lebanon and Sirion are compared to.
Isaiah 2:13-14This prophecy declares that the day of the Lord will be upon the 'high and lifted up' cedars of Lebanon and the high mountains, showing a consistent theme of God's power impacting these majestic natural features.
Jeremiah 51:25This verse speaks of God's judgment against Babylon, calling it a 'destroying mountain' that He will roll down upon, connecting the idea of mountains being instruments or targets of God's powerful actions.
calvinPsalms 29:5-8: "The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon."
The voice of Jehovah breaketh the cedars; I say, Jehovah breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. 6. And he maketh Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young unicorn. 7. The voice of Jehovah striketh out [or heweth out] flames of fire. 8. The voice of Jehovah maketh the wilderness to quake, the voice of Jehovah maketh the wilderness of Kadesh to tremble.
The voice of Jehovah breaket…
cambridgePsalms 29:6: "He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn."
6 . them ] Not the cedars, but the mountains generally, to be understood from Lebanon and Sirion in the next line. Cp. Psalm 114:4 ; Psalm 114:6 ; Psalm 18:7 ff. Sirion ] The old Sidonian name for Hermon ( Deuteronomy 3:9 ), derived probably from the glistening of the snow on its summit. Lebanon and Sirion are specified as the noblest mountains of Palestine, and also as forming the northern boundary…
The power of God's voice is so immense that it doesn't just break the cedars, it makes entire mountainsides, specifically the majestic Lebanon and Sirion, leap and bound like playful young animals. This isn't about an earthquake, but a poetic, awe-inspiring image showing how even the most solid parts of creation can be made to quiver and move under the force of God's pronouncements.
The psalm is building a powerful picture of God's voice, presented as thunder, roaring across the land. After describing how this divine voice shatters the mighty cedars of Lebanon, the focus shifts to the very mountains themselves, showing how they violently shake and tremble under the force of the storm. This description of the mountains' powerful reaction leads into verses about lightning, the wilderness quaking, and the wild animals' distress.
The psalm is building a powerful picture of God's voice, presented as thunder, roaring across the land. After describing how this divine voice shatters the mighty cedars of Lebanon, the focus shifts to the very mountains themselves, showing how they violently shake and tremble under the force of the storm. This description of the mountains' powerful reaction leads into verses about lightning, the wilderness quaking, and the wild animals' distress.
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"He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox." — The power of God's voice is so immense that it doesn't just break the cedars, it makes entire mountainsides, specifically the majestic Lebanon and Sirion, leap and bound like playful young animals. T…