Psalms 104:8

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
mountains rose and valleys sank—to the place you established for them.

Hebrew Names Version
The mountains rose, The valleys sank down, To the place which you had assigned to them.

King James Version
They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.

English Standard Version
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.

New Century Version
The mountains rose; the valleys sank. The water went to the places you made for it.

New English Translation
as the mountains rose up, and the valleys went down— to the place you appointed for them.

Amplified Bible
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down To the place which You established for them.

New American Standard Bible
The mountains rose; the valleys sank down To the place which You established for them.

World English Bible
The mountains rose, The valleys sank down, To the place which you had assigned to them.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the mountaines ascend, and the valleis descend to the place which thou hast established for them.

Legacy Standard Bible
The mountains went up; the valleys went downTo the place which You founded for them.

Berean Standard Bible
the mountains rose and the valleys sank to the place You appointed for them-

Contemporary English Version
down the mountains and through the valleys to the place you prepared.

Complete Jewish Bible
flowing over hills, pouring into valleys, down to the place you had fixed for them.

Darby Translation
The mountains rose, the valleys sank, unto the place which thou hadst founded for them;—

Easy-to-Read Version
The water flowed down from the mountains into the valleys, to the places you made for it.

George Lamsa Translation
The mountains ascend, the valleys descend to the place which thou hast founded for them.

Good News Translation
They flowed over the mountains and into the valleys, to the place you had made for them.

Lexham English Bible
They ascended the mountains and drained though the valleys to the place that you established for them.

Literal Translation
They go up the mountains; they go down the valleys to the place which You founded for them.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then are the hilles sene alofte, & the valleys beneth in their place which thou hast appoynted for the.

American Standard Version
(The mountains rose, the valleys sank down) Unto the place which thou hadst founded for them.

Bible in Basic English
The mountains came up and the valleys went down into the place which you had made ready for them.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down--unto the place which Thou hadst founded for them;

King James Version (1611)
They go vp by the mountaines: they goe downe by the valleys vnto the place which thou hast founded for them.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The hilles mount aloft: and the valleys settle downe beneath vnto the place where thou hast layde a foundation for them.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
They go up to the mountains, and down to the plains, to the place which thou hast founded for them.

English Revised Version
They went up by the mountains, they went down by the valleys, unto the place which thou hadst founded for them.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Hillis stien vp, and feeldis goen doun; in to the place which thou hast foundid to tho.

Update Bible Version
(The mountains rose, the valleys sank down) To the place which you had founded for them.

Webster's Bible Translation
They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys to the place which thou hast founded for them.

New King James Version
They went up over the mountains; They went down into the valleys, To the place which You founded for them.

New Living Translation
Mountains rose and valleys sank to the levels you decreed.

New Life Bible
The mountains went up and the valleys went down to the place that You made for them.

New Revised Standard
They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place that you appointed for them.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Mountains rise, Valleys sink, Unto the place which thou hast fixed for them;

Douay-Rheims Bible
(103-8) The mountains ascend, and the plains descend into the place which thou hast founded for them.

Revised Standard Version
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place which thou didst appoint for them.

Young's Literal Translation
They go up hills -- they go down valleys, Unto a place Thou hast founded for them.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The mountains rose; the valleys sank down To the place which You established for them.

Contextual Overview

¹O my soul, bless God ! God , my God, how great you are! beautifully, gloriously robed, Dressed up in sunshine, and all heaven stretched out for your tent. You built your palace on the ocean deeps, made a chariot out of clouds and took off on wind-wings. You commandeered winds as messengers, appointed fire and flame as ambassadors. You set earth on a firm foundation so that nothing can shake it, ever. You blanketed earth with ocean, covered the mountains with deep waters; Then you roared and the water ran away— your thunder crash put it to flight. Mountains pushed up, valleys spread out in the places you assigned them. You set boundaries between earth and sea; never again will earth be flooded. You started the springs and rivers, sent them flowing among the hills. All the wild animals now drink their fill, wild donkeys quench their thirst. Along the riverbanks the birds build nests, ravens make their voices heard. You water the mountains from your heavenly cisterns; earth is supplied with plenty of water. You make grass grow for the livestock, hay for the animals that plow the ground. Oh yes, God brings grain from the land, wine to make people happy, Their faces glowing with health, a people well-fed and hearty. God 's trees are well-watered— the Lebanon cedars he planted. Birds build their nests in those trees; look—the stork at home in the treetop. Mountain goats climb about the cliffs; badgers burrow among the rocks. The moon keeps track of the seasons, the sun is in charge of each day. When it's dark and night takes over, all the forest creatures come out. The young lions roar for their prey, clamoring to God for their supper. When the sun comes up, they vanish, lazily stretched out in their dens. Meanwhile, men and women go out to work, busy at their jobs until evening. What a wildly wonderful world, God ! You made it all, with Wisdom at your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations. Oh, look—the deep, wide sea, brimming with fish past counting, sardines and sharks and salmon. Ships plow those waters, and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them. All the creatures look expectantly to you to give them their meals on time. You come, and they gather around; you open your hand and they eat from it. If you turned your back, they'd die in a minute— Take back your Spirit and they die, revert to original mud; Send out your Spirit and they spring to life— the whole countryside in bloom and blossom. The glory of God —let it last forever! Let God enjoy his creation! He takes one look at earth and triggers an earthquake, points a finger at the mountains, and volcanoes erupt. Oh, let me sing to God all my life long, sing hymns to my God as long as I live! Oh, let my song please him; I'm so pleased to be singing to God . But clear the ground of sinners— no more godless men and women! O my soul, bless God !

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

They go up: etc. or, The mountains ascend, the valleys descend, Genesis 8:5

Reciprocal: Proverbs 3:20 - the depths Jonah 2:6 - mountains

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They go up by the mountains, they go down by the valleys,.... The Targum is,

"they ascend out of the deep to the mountains;''

that is, the waters, when they went off the earth at the divine orders, steered their course up the mountains, and then went down by the valleys to the place appointed for them; they went over hills and dales, nothing could stop them or retard their course till they came to their proper place; which is another instance of the almighty power of the Son of God. Some render the words, "the mountains ascended, the valleys descended m"; and then the meaning is, when the depth of waters were called off the earth, the mountains and valleys appeared, the one seemed to rise up and the other to go down; but the former reading seems best, and emblematically describes the state of God's people in this world, in their passage to their appointed place; who have sometimes mountains of difficulties to go over, and which seem insuperable, and yet they surmount them; sometimes they are upon the mount of heaven by contemplation, and have their hearts and affections above; they mount up with wings as eagles; sometimes they are upon the mount of communion with God, and by his favour their mount stands strong, and they think they shall never be moved; at other times they are down in the valleys, in a low estate and condition; in low frames of soul, in a low exercise of grace, and in the valley of the shadow of death, of afflictive providences in soul or body: and as the waters, thus steering their course under a divine direction, and by an almighty power, at length came unto the place which, the psalmist says, thou hast founded for them, meaning the seas; which the Lord founded and prepared for the reception of them; and which collection of waters in one place he called by that name, Genesis 1:10. So the Lord's people, through a variety of circumstances, trials, and exercises, will be all brought safe to the place appointed for them, and prepared by Christ in his Father's house; where they will be swallowed up in the boundless ocean of everlasting love.

m So Pagninus, Musculus, Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They go up by the mountains ... - That is, when they were gathered together into seas. They seemed to roll and tumble over hills and mountains, and to run down in valleys, until they found the deep hollows which had been formed for seas, and where they were permanently collected together. The margin here is, “The mountains ascend, the valleys descend.” So it is translated in the Septuagint, in the Latin Vulgate, by Luther, and by DeWette. The more natural idea, however, is that in our translation: “They (the waters) go up mountains; they descend valleys.”

Unto the place - The deep hollows of the earth, which seem to have been scooped out to make a place for them.

Which thou hast founded for them - Where thou hast laid a permanent foundation for them on which to rest; that is, which thou hast prepared for them.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 104:8. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys — Taking the words as they stand here, springs seem to be what are intended. But it is difficult to conceive how the water could ascend, through the fissures of mountains, to their tops, and then come down their sides so as to form rivulets to water the valleys. Most probably all the springs in mountains and hills are formed from waters which fall on their tops in the form of rain, or from clouds that, passing over them, are arrested, and precipitate their contents, which, sinking down, are stopped by some solid strata, till, forcing their way at some aperture at their sides, they form springs and fountains. Possibly, however, vapours and exhalations are understood; these by evaporation ascend to the tops of mountains, where they are condensed and precipitated. Thus the vapours ascend, and then come down to the valleys, forming fountains and rivulets in those places which the providence of God has allotted them; that is, continuous valleys, with such a degree of inclination as determines their waters to run in that direction till they reach another river, or fall into the ocean.

Some have thought there is a reference to the breaking up on the fountains of the great deep, at the time of the flood; while the protrusion of the waters would raise the circumambient crust, so as to form mountains, the other parts, falling in to fill up the vacuum occasioned by the waters which were thrown up from the central abyss, would constitute valleys.

Ovid seems to paraphrase this verse: -

Jussit et extendi campos, subsidere valles,

Fronde tegi sylvas, lapidosos surgere montes.

Met. lib. i., ver. 43.

"He shades the woods, the valleys he restrains

With rocky mountains, and extends the plains."

DRYDEN.