He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

PSALMS 106:9KJV
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Psalms 106:9 (KJV)

What does Psalms 106:9 mean?

Psalms 106:9 recalls how God powerfully intervened for the Israelites by commanding the Red Sea to dry up, allowing them to cross safely as if they were walking through a wilderness. The verse highlights God's authority over nature and His care in leading His people through danger.

The psalm is a song of remembrance, spoken by the psalmist to the gathered people of Israel, recounting their ancestors’ deliverance from Egypt. By mentioning the Red Sea event, the verse points to a moment when God’s word alone changed an impossible situation, turning deep waters into a dry path just as He would guide them through a barren desert.

The Hebrew behind Psalms 106:9

  • יָם (yam, "sea"): This word refers specifically to the Red Sea in this context, emphasizing the vast and impassable barrier the Israelites faced.
  • תְּהוֹם (tehom, "depths"): This word often means the deep, chaotic waters. Here, it underlines the danger and seeming hopelessness of the situation before God acted.
  • מִדְבָּר (midbar, "wilderness"): The comparison to the wilderness suggests that the sea became as harmless and passable as dry desert ground, highlighting the completeness of God's deliverance.

Why Psalms 106:9 matters

  • The verse clears up the idea that the Israelites crossed on muddy or shallow ground; it stresses that the sea was truly dried up, making a safe path.
  • It emphasizes God's direct action and authority, showing that nature itself responds to His command.
  • This verse connects to the larger theme of Psalms 106, which is remembering God’s faithfulness despite the people’s repeated failures, encouraging trust in His power to save.

Where else these words appear

“rebuked” Hebrew H1605 · used in 13 verses

  • Genesis 37:10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
  • Psalms 119:21 Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.
  • Nahum 1:4 He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

“Red” Hebrew H5488 · used in 28 verses

  • Exodus 2:3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.
  • Numbers 33:10 And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red sea.
  • 1 Kings 9:26 And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom.

“depths” Hebrew H8415 · used in 35 verses

  • Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
  • Job 41:32 He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
  • Proverbs 3:20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.

“up” Hebrew H2717 · used in 36 verses

  • Genesis 8:13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
  • Isaiah 37:18 Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,
  • Jeremiah 51:36 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.