Psalms 144:5
3 LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!
4 Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
6 Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.
7 Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
- KJV
- Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
- WEB
- Part your heavens, LORD, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.
- ASV
- Bow thy heavens, O Jehovah, and come down: Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
- DARBY
- Jehovah, bow thy heavens, and come down; touch the mountains, that they smoke;
- BLB
- O YHWH, bend Your heavens and come down! Touch the mountains, that they may smoke!
- ÅB
- Herre, bøy din himmel og far ned, rør ved fjellene så de ryker!
- OTB
- Senk Dine himler, Herre, og stig ned;
Rør ved fjellene, så de ryker. - B1930
- Herre, bøi din himmel og far ned, rør ved fjellene så de ryker!
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Psalms 104:32
He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
Read in contextPsalms 18:9
He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
Read in contextHabakkuk 3:3–6
God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
Read in contextExodus 19:18
And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
Read in contextIsaiah 64:1–2
Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
Read in contextHebrews 12:18
For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
Read in contextNahum 1:3–6
The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
Read in context