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Psalms

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Psalm 33

1 You godly ones, shout for joy because of the Lord! It is appropriate for the morally upright to offer him praise. 2 Give thanks to the Lord with the harp. Sing to him to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument. 3 Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully as you shout out your praises to him. 4 For the Lord’s decrees are just, and everything he does is fair. 5 He promotes equity and justice; the Lord’s faithfulness extends throughout the earth. 6 By the Lord’s decree the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all the starry hosts.⁠ 7 He piles up the water of the sea; he puts the oceans in storehouses.⁠ 8 Let the whole earth fear the Lord. Let all who live in the world stand in awe of him. 9 For he spoke, and it came into existence. He issued the decree, and it stood firm.⁠ 10 The Lord frustrates the decisions of the nations; he nullifies the plans of the peoples. 11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever; his plans abide throughout the ages. 12 How blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen to be his special possession. 13 The Lord watches from heaven; he sees all people.⁠ 14 From the place where he lives he looks carefully at all the earth’s inhabitants. 15 He is the one who forms every human heart, and takes note of all their actions. 16 No king is delivered by his vast army; a warrior is not saved by his great might. 17 A horse disappoints those who trust in it for victory; despite its great strength, it cannot deliver. 18 Look, the Lord takes notice of his loyal followers, those who wait for him to demonstrate his faithfulness 19 by saving their lives from death and sustaining them during times of famine. 20 We wait for the Lord; he is our deliverer and shield. 21 For our hearts rejoice in him, for we trust in his holy name. 22 May we experience your faithfulness, O Lord, for we wait for you.

Texts in conversation

Compare Amos 9:6 and Psalm 33:7

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Psalm 33 follows ancient Near Eastern tradition, describing the waters of the sea gathered into storehouses, in an ocean below the earth. Amos echoes this by placing God’s dwelling over the waters and portraying rain as stored and released at will.

Passages

Amos 9:6

Hebrew Bible
4 Even when their enemies drive them into captivity, from there I will command the sword to kill them. I will not let them out of my sight; they will experience disaster, not prosperity.” 5 The Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies will do this. He touches the earth and it dissolves; all who live on it mourn. The whole earth rises like the Nile River and then grows calm like the Nile in Egypt. 6 He builds the upper rooms of his palace in heaven and sets its foundation supports on the earth. He summons the water of the sea and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name. 7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” says the Lord. “Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir. 8 Look, the Sovereign Lord is watching the sinful nation, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will not completely destroy the family of Jacob,” says the Lord.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Amos

Psalm 33:7

Hebrew Bible
5 He promotes equity and justice; the Lord’s faithfulness extends throughout the earth. 6 By the Lord’s decree the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all the starry hosts. 7 He piles up the water of the sea; he puts the oceans in storehouses. 8 Let the whole earth fear the Lord. Let all who live in the world stand in awe of him. 9 For he spoke, and it came into existence. He issued the decree, and it stood firm.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... Waters remain above the firmament (Genesis 1:7), and it is in these waters that God established his dwelling chamber (Psalm 104:3, Amos 9:6); there that he keeps his storehouses of rain (Deuteronomy 28:12), wind (Psalm 135:7; Jeremiah 10:13; 51:16), snow and hail (Job 38:22–23); and there that he keeps his weapons (Jeremiah 50:25), almost certainly a term for atmospheric phenomena. From there he waters the mountains (Psalm 104:13). These waters are kept from cascading down upon the earth by the ordinance of God, by the firmament of the sky, and by the locks that guard the sky (Psalm 135:7; Jeremiah 10:12–13; 51:15–16). There are also waters beneath the earth (Exodus 20:4). The storehouses of the earth beneath the ground are filled with waters (Psalm 33:7), and the great deep stretches out beneath the land (Genesis 49:25) ..."
Tikva Frymer-Kensky, "Biblical Cosmology" in O'Connor, Michael P. and David Noel Freedman (ed.) Backgrounds for the Bible (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1987), 233.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Amos 9:6 and Psalm 33:7

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