What Does Psalm 107:24 Mean?
These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the sunken deep.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.THE KEY
The deep is not where the LORD’s work vanishes; it is where the extraordinary becomes visible.
THE MEANING
You see the LORD’s work in depths where your sight and control are limited. The verse places wonder there, so depth is not the same as divine absence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The deepest places are evidence that the LORD is absent.
THE ROOT
נִפְלְאוֹתָיו
niflaʾotav
GROWS FROM
פלא
p-l-ʾ
To be extraordinary, marvelous, or beyond ordinary grasp.
The verse’s “wonders” grows from פלא (palaʾ), a root for what is extraordinary. Its related forms tie the wonders seen in the deep to acts beyond the ordinary, so the depth does not hide the LORD’s work; it reveals its scale.
ALSO GROWS
peleʾ: Wonder, marvel
פֶּלֶא
Psalm 77:14 uses this word for the LORD’s wonders, linking what is seen in this verse’s deep to a recurring language for the extraordinary.
hiphlîʾ: Did wondrously; acted extraordinarily
הִפְלִיא
This verb presents wonder as something done, illuminating the verse’s “works” as acts that become visible even in the deep.
THE PATTERN
Places that exceed human sight still bear witness to works that exceed human measure.
Your way is in the sea, and your trail in the many waters, and your footprints are not perceived.Who makes great things beyond searching, and wonders without number.And the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea hear and respond to him?THE THREAD
You are the God who makes wonders; you make known your strength among the peoples.Both verses use forms of פלא (palaʾ), “to be extraordinary,” for the LORD’s wonders. Psalm 77:14 names the wondrous acts; Psalm 107:24 shows them being seen in the deep.
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