Mazmur 29:10

29:10 The Lord sits enthroned over the engulfing waters, ¹ 

the Lord sits enthroned ²  as the eternal king.

Mazmur 93:3-4

93:3 The waves ³  roar, O Lord,

the waves roar,

the waves roar and crash. ⁴ 

93:4 Above the sound of the surging water, ⁵ 

and the mighty waves of the sea,

the Lord sits enthroned in majesty. ⁶ 

Mazmur 104:7-9

104:7 Your shout made the waters retreat;

at the sound of your thunderous voice they hurried off –

104:8 as the mountains rose up,

and the valleys went down –

to the place you appointed for them. ⁷ 

104:9 You set up a boundary for them that they could not cross,

so that they would not cover the earth again. ⁸ 

Mazmur 107:29

107:29 He calmed the storm, ⁹ 

and the waves ¹⁰  grew silent.

[29:10]  ¹ tn The noun מַּבּוּל (mabbul, “flood”) appears only here and in Gen 6-11, where it refers to the Noahic flood. Some see a reference to that event here. The presence of the article (perhaps indicating uniqueness) and the switch to the perfect verbal form (which could be taken as describing a past situation) might support this. However, the immediate context indicates that the referent of מַּבּוּל is the “surging waters” mentioned in v. 3. The article indicates waters that are definite in the mind of the speaker and the perfect is probably descriptive in function, like “thunders” in v. 3. However, even though the historical flood is not the primary referent here, there may be a literary allusion involved. The psalmist views the threatening chaotic sea as a contemporary manifestation of the destructive waters of old.

[29:10]  ² tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries the descriptive function of the preceding perfect.

[93:3]  ³ tn The Hebrew noun translated “waves” often refers to rivers or streams, but here it appears to refer to the surging waves of the sea (see v. 4, Ps 24:2).

[93:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “the waves lift up, O Lord, the waves lift up their voice, the waves lift up their crashing.”

[93:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “mighty waters.”

[93:4]  sn The surging waters here symbolizes the hostile enemies of God who seek to destroy the order he has established in the world (see Pss 18:17; 29:3; 32:6; 77:20; 144:7; Isa 17:13; Jer 51:55; Ezek 26:19; Hab 3:15). But the Lord is depicted as elevated above and sovereign over these raging waters.

[93:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “mighty on high [is] the Lord.”

[104:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “from your shout they fled, from the sound of your thunder they hurried off.”

[104:8]  sn Verses 7-8 poetically depict Gen 1:9-10.

[104:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “a boundary you set up, they will not cross, they will not return to cover the earth.”

[107:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “he raised [the] storm to calm.”

[107:29]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “their waves.” The antecedent of the third masculine plural pronominal suffix is not readily apparent, unless it refers back to “waters” in v. 23.