Psalms 33:6

"By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made,

And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap:

He layeth up the deeps in storehouses."

In these verses, the praiseworthiness of God is based upon, "His being the Creator of the world in the kingdom of Nature."[11]

"The heavens ... all the host of them" (Psalms 33:6). These were spoken into existence by God. His simple word was all that was required to bring them into existence.

"By the breath of his mouth" (Psalms 33:6). This is merely another way of saying, "by God's Word."

"He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap" (Psalms 33:7). Here we have a classical example of how some translators, confronting a word of many meanings, sometimes choose the worst possible rendition. (In our New Testament Series, Vol. 11, we commented extensively upon this, pp. 219,222.)

"As a heap" (Psalms 33:7). This word is capable of a number of translations. Dahood mentioned, "`Jar,' `pitcher,' `flask,' and `water-skin' as possible renditions."[12] The RSV has the ridiculous translation of the verse as, "He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle." What were the translators thinking about? Putting all the oceans of the world "in a bottle?" The second half of the verse, which after the manner of Hebrew poetry repeats the thought of the first half makes it unthinkable to accept such a rendition. Furthermore, the sacred Hebrew Text, "The Hebrew text of the Old Testament (the Masoretic Text) has the word `heap' in this place,"[13] as translated in the KJV and in our own American Standard Version.

Why did translators make this change? Kidner explained it: "`Bottle,' or `wine-skin' seems more suited to a creation context than the Masoretic Text ('heap') which alludes elsewhere to the exodus."[14] All that excuse says is that the translators decided to substitute their own words in place of the legitimate Hebrew text.

Not only is the word `heap,' the only legitimate rendition for this verse, it also fits the facts. If we inquire as to "How has God gathered the seas together in a `heap,'" in order to allow much of the dry land on earth to appear, the answer lies in the polar ice-caps, both of which are miles deep in solid ice, of which scientists have warned us that, if they were all melted at one time, practically all of earth's greatest cities would lie several hundred feet submerged in the ocean.

The allusion to the exodus, mentioned by Kidner, above, is not merely allowable, it gives the only worthy parallel to the incredible walls of frozen waters in the polar caps, referring, as Barnes noted, "To Exodus 15:8, `The floods stood upright as a heap.'"[15]

Another remarkable error that surfaces with reference to this chapter is that of Dummelow who made Psalms 33:7 here, "A reference to the ancient idea of a reservoir of water under the earth."[16] There may have been such an "ancient idea," but Dummelow did not find it in the Bible. Genesis 7:11, which he cited in his comment teaches no such thing. The "great deep" mentioned there is a reference to the oceans, not to waters under the earth.

DeHoff's comment here is very discerning. He said, with reference to Psalms 33:7 that, "The use of the present tense (as in `gathering') suggests God's continuous actions in the sustaining of the universe."[17] How true this is! God's `gathering of the seas' is going on right now in the fact of God's Deep Freezer keeping the mighty polar ice-caps in the tremendous `heaps' where God is gathering them.