A word study on the sea in the Old Testament
The sea 3220
water 4325
river 5103, 5104, 2975, 5158, 6388, 3105, 180, 650,
the depths 8415, 6009-12, 4688, 4615,
waves 4867, 1116, 1530, 1796,
the deep 8415, 4688, 4615, 6013, 6683, 8247, 4950
the wind 7307-8
And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:10
I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted; the horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea….Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; and the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The deeps cover them; they went down into the depths like a stone (Neh 9:11, Jer 51:63, Rev 18:21)….The sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters…etc…
Exodus 15:1,4,10
These you may eat, whatever is in the water: all that have fins and scales, those in the water, in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. But whatever is in the seas and in the rivers, that do not have fins and scales among all the teeming life of the waters are detestable to you, and they shall be abhorrent to you; you may not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses you shall detest. Whatever in the water does not have fins and scales is abhorrent to you.
Leviticus 11:9-12
And know this day that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the LORD your God–His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm, and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land; and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots, when He made the water of the Red Sea to engulf them while they were pursuing you, and the LORD completely destroyed them…(The horses represent the flesh in which men trust and their riders are the powers of darkness and/or the flesh itself which is controlled by the powers of darkness. Just as these were drowned in the Red Sea as the Israelites passed through on dry ground, so too at our baptism into Christ are we to become dead to the flesh and those powers of darkness who tempt us by our flesh).
Deut 11:2-4
For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say,”Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?” But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14
And David spoke the words of this song to the LORD in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said,…I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. For the waves of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me; the cords of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me….Then the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were laid bare, by the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of His nostrils. He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.
2 Samuel 22:1,4-6,16-18
Now he made the sea of cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits, and thirty cubits in circumference….It could hold two thousand baths.
1 Kings 7:23,26
He also made ten basins in which to wash, and he set five on the right side and five on the left, to rinse things for the burnt offering; but the sea was for the priests to wash in. (Cf. note on Deut 11; see Mic 7:19).
2 Chronicles 4:6
Am I the sea, or the sea monster, that Thou dost set a guard over me?
Job 7:12
[God] alone stretches out the heavens, and tramples down the waves of the sea…
Job 9:8
But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; and let the fish of the sea declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?
Job 12:7-10
He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters, at the boundary of light and darkness. The pillars of heaven tremble, and are amazed at His rebuke. He quieted the sea with His power, and by His understanding He shattered Rahab. By His breath the heavens are cleared (lit. “made beautiful”); His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent.
Job 26:10-13
But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living. The deep says, “It is not with me”; and the sea says, “It is not with me.”
Job 28:12-14
Or who enclosed the sea with doors, when, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; when I made a cloud its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, and I placed boundaries on it, and I set a bolt and doors, and I said, “Thus far you shall come, but no farther; and here shall your proud waves stop”?…Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.
Job 38:8-11,16-18
Leviathan (who is a type of Satan) makes the depths boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment. Behind him he makes a wake to shine; one would think the deep to be gray-haired. Nothing on earth is like him, one made without fear. He looks on everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride.
Job 41:31-34
The earth is the LORD’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it. For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers.
Psalm 24:1-2
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses.
Psalm 33:6-7
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the seas. Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride….The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered; He raised His voice, the earth melted.
Psalm 46:1-3,6
By awesome deeds Thou dost answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, Thou who art the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea; Who dost establish the mountains by His strength, being girded with might; Who dost still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples.
Psalm 65:5-7
Save me, O God, for the waters have threatened my life. I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me….Deliver me from the mire, and do not let me sink; may I be delivered from those who hate me, and from the deep waters. May the flood of water not overflow me, and may the deep not swallow me up, and may the pit not shut its mouth on me.
Psalm 69:1-2,14-15
Thou didst divide the sea by Thy strength; Thou didst break the heads of the sea monsters in the waters (possibly some reference to Egypt and the bondage to sin which Egypt represents, cf. Ps 89:9-10, Is 51:9 and 30:7; see also Ps 87:4, Job 9:13, 26:12). Thou didst crush the heads of Leviathan; Thou didst give him as food for the creatures (lit. the people) of the wilderness (cf. Ex 32:20, Num 11:31-34, Ez 32:2-14). Thou didst break open springs and torrents; Thou didst dry up ever-flowing streams.
Psalm 74:13-15
The waters saw Thee, O God; the waters saw Thee, they were in anguish; the deeps also trembled. The clouds poured out water; the skies gave forth a sound; Thy arrows flashed here and there. The sound of Thy thunder was in the whirlwind; the lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook. Thy way was in the sea, and Thy paths in the mighty waters, and Thy footprints may not be known. Thou didst lead Thy people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Psalm 77:16-20
Thou dost rule the swelling of the sea; when its waves rise, Thou dost still them. Thou Thyself didst crush Rahab like one who is slain (cf. again Ps 74:13-15 and Rev 13:1-3), Thou didst scatter Thine enemies with Thy mighty arm….I shall also set his hand (who is the anointed son of David, i.e., Christ) on the sea, and his right hand on the rivers.
Psalm 89:9-10,25
The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their pounding waves. More than the sounds of many waters, than the mighty breakers of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty.
Psalm 93:3-4
Let the sea roar and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it. Let the rivers clap their hands; let the mountains sing together for joy before the LORD; for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
Psalm 98:7-9
O LORD, how many are Thy works! In wisdom Thou hast made them all; the earth is full of Thy possessions. There is the sea, great and broad, in which are swarms without number, animals both small and great. There the ships move along, and Leviathan, which Thou hast formed to sport in it.
Psalm 104:24-26
Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters; they have seen the works of the LORD, and His wonders in the deep. For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths; their soul melted away in misery. They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, and were at their wits’ end. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still, so that the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because they were quiet; so He guided them to their desired haven. Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, and for His wonders to the sons of men!
Psalm 107:23-31
All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again.
Ecclesiastes 1:7
Its roaring (the distant nation who represents the powers of darkness) is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions; it growls as it seizes the prey, and carries it off with no one to deliver it. And it shall growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress; even the light is darkened by clouds.
Isaiah 5:29-30
And the LORD of hosts will arouse a scourge against him (the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod and lifts up his staff against you, the way Egypt did) like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea, and He will lift it up the way He did in Egypt.
Isaiah 10:26
They (the wolf and lion and cobra, etc…) will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11:9
And the LORD (in the day He gathers together His remnant) will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt; and He will wave His hand over the (great) River with His scorching wind; and He will strike it into seven streams, and make men walk over dry-shod (lit. “in sandals”). And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of His people who will be left, just as there was for Israel in the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt.
Isaiah 11:15-16
Alas, the uproar of many peoples who roar like the roaring of the seas, and the rumbling of nations who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters! The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters! But He will rebuke them and they will flee far away, and be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind or like whirling dust before a gale.
Isaiah 17:12-13
And the waters from the sea will dry up, and the river will be parched and dry, and the canals will emit a stench, the streams (spiritual waters) of Egypt will thin out and dry up; the reeds and rushes will rot away.
Isaiah 19:5-6
The oracle (or burden) concerning the wilderness of the sea. As windstorms in the Negev sweep on, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land. A harsh vision has been shown to me; the treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys….I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see. My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling….And one answered and said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.” O my threshed people, and my afflicted of the threshing floor! What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I make know to you.
Isaiah 21:1-2,3-4,9-10
The oracle (or burden) concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is destroyed, without house or harbor; it is reported to them from the land of Cyprus. Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon; your messengers crossed the sea and were on many waters (this is the harlot who sits on many waters, cf. Is 23:15-18). The grain of the Nile, the harvest of the (great) River was her revenue (they believe godliness is a means of gain, 1 Tim 6:5); and she was the market of nations. Be ashamed, O Sidon; for the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have neither travailed nor given birth, I have neither brought up young men nor reared virgins.”…Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish, there is no more restraint (cf. 2 Thess 2:6-7). He has stretched His hand out over the sea, He has made the kingdoms tremble; the LORD has given a command concerning Canaan to demolish its strongholds…
Isaiah 23:1-4,10-11
They (the harlot world) raise their voices, they shout for joy. They cry out from the sea (or west) concerning the majesty of the LORD. Therefore glorify the LORD in the region of light (or east), the name of the LORD, the God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear songs, “Glory to the Righteous One,” but I say, “Wasting to me! Wasting to me! Alas for me! The treacherous deal treacherously, and the treacherous deal very treacherously.” Terror and pit and snare confront you. O inhabitant of the earth…
Isaiah 24:14-17
Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and close your doors behind you; hide for a little while, until indignation runs its course. For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; and the earth will reveal her bloodshed, and will no longer cover her slain. In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, with His fierce and great and mighty sword (which is the word of God), even Leviathan the twisted serpent; and He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.
Isaiah 26:20-27:1
Thus says the LORD your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and will bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, into the ships in which they rejoice. I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.” Thus says the LORD, who makes a way through the sea and a path through the mighty waters, who brings forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the mighty man (they will lie down together and not rise again; they have been quenched and extinguished like a wick): “Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:14-19
Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds pour down righteousness; let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit, and righteousness spring up with it. I, the LORD, have created it.
Isaiah 45:8
Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea (i.e., never idle, cf. Is 57:20-21)….Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans!
Isaiah 48:17-18,20
Thus says the LORD, “Where is the certificate of divorce, by which I have sent your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away. Why was there no man when I came? When I called, why was there none to answer? Is My hand so short that it cannot ransom? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, I dry up the sea (which represents the nations to whom these are sold for their transgressions) with My rebuke, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink for lack of (spiritual) water, and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
Isaiah 50:1-3
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake as in the days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not Thou who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? Was it not Thou who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a pathway for the redeemed to cross over?
Isaiah 51:9-10
I even I am He who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, and of the son of man who is made like grass;…that you fear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor, as he makes ready to destroy? But where is the fury of the oppressor? The one in chains will soon be set free, and will not die in the dungeon, nor will his bread be lacking. For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar (the LORD of hosts is His name)….
Isaiah 51:12-15
The wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up refuse and mud. “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
Isaiah 57:20-21
Arise, shine; for your light has come,…and nations will come to your light…Lift up your eyes round about and see; they all gather together, they come to you….Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and rejoice; because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you.
Isaiah 60:1,3,4,5
But they (the people of the Lord) rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore, He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them. Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses. Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in the midst of them (notice that this is the path of salvation–to come up out of the sea and be led by the Holy Spirit), who caused His glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for Himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths?
Isaiah 63:10-13
Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have ears, but hear not. ‘Do you not fear Me?’ declares the LORD. ‘Do you not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, an eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and departed.’ (I.e., they have not restrained that evil in the world of which the sea is a type).
Jeremiah 5:21-23
If the sea and its roaring waves represent the nations in their hostility to God’s righteous and sovereign reign over creation, then the sand of the seashore represents that which restrains the nations, i.e., the true saints of God through the Spirit of God leading them in righteousness to be the salt of the world.
Thus says the LORD, “Behold, a people is coming from the north land, and a great nation will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth. They seize bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, arrayed as a man for the battle against you, O daughter of Zion!”
Jeremiah 6:22-23
For thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, concerning the sea, concerning the stands, and concerning the rest of the vessels which are left in this city….”They shall be carried to Babylon, and they shall be there until the day I visit them,” declares the LORD. “Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.”
Jeremiah 27:19,22
Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day, and the statutes of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the LORD of hosts is His name…
Jeremiah 31:35
Concerning Damascus. “Hamath and Arpad (cities north of Damascus, not on the seacoast) are put to shame, for they have heard bad news; they are disheartened. There is anxiety by the sea, it cannot be calmed.
Jeremiah 49:23
Behold, a people is coming from the north, and a great nation and many kings will be aroused form the remote parts of the earth. They seize bow and javelin; they are cruel and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, marshalled like a man for the battle against you, O daughter of Babylon.
Jeremiah 50:41-42
“Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me and crushed me, he has set me down like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster….May the violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon,” the inhabitant of Zion will say….Therefore thus says the LORD, “Behold, I am going to plead your case and exact full vengeance for you; and I shall dry up her sea and make her fountain dry….The sea has come up over Babylon; she has been engulfed with its tumultuous waves. Her cities have become an object of horror, a parched land and a desert, a land in which no man lives, and through which no son of man passes. And I shall punish Bel (cognate to Baal, meaning Lord and referring to the chief god of the Babylonians Marduk) in Babylon, and I shall make what he has swallowed come out of his mouth; and the nations will no longer stream to him. Even the wall of Babylon has fallen down!
Jeremiah 51:34-36,42-44
Now the bronze pillars which belonged to the house of the LORD and the stands and the bronze sea, which were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried all their bronze to Babylon….The bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight.
Jeremiah 52:17,20
How shall I admonish you? To what shall I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? To what shall I liken you as I comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin (breaking) is as vast as the sea; who can heal you?
Lamentations 2:13
Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves….She will be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken.
Ezekiel 26:3,5
Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre, “Shall not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall when the wounded groan, when the slaughter occurs in your midst? Then all the princes of the sea will go down from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, tremble every moment, and be appalled at you. And they will take up a lamentation over you and say to you, ‘How you have perished, O inhabited one, from the seas, O renowned city, which was mighty on the sea, she and her inhabitants, who imposed her terror on all her inhabitants! Now the coastlands will tremble on the day of your fall; yes, the coastlands which are by the sea will be terrified at your passing.'” For thus says the Lord GOD, “When I shall make you a desolate city, like the cities which are not inhabited, when I shall bring up the deep over you, and the great waters will cover you, then I shall bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I shall make you dwell in the lower parts of the earth, like the ancient waste places, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I shall set glory in the land of the living.
Ezekiel 26:15-20
And you, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre (a type of Babylon, cf. Rev 18); and say to Tyre, who dwells at the entrance to the sea, merchant of the peoples to many coastlands, “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘O Tyre, you have said, “I am perfect in beauty,” your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders have perfected your beauty….All the ships of the sea and their sailors were with you in order to deal in your merchandise….The ships of Tarshish were the carriers for your merchandise, and you were filled and were very glorious in the heart of the seas. Your rowers have brought you into great waters; the east wind has broken you in the heart of the seas. Your wealth, your wares, your merchandise, your sailors, and your pilots, your repairers of seams, your dealers in merchandise, and all your men of war who are in you, with all your company that is in your midst, will fall into the heart of the seas on the day of your overthrow. At the sound of the cry of your pilots the pasture lands will shake. And all who handle the oar, the sailors, and all the pilots of the sea will come down from their ships; they will stand on the land, and they will make their voice heard over you and will cry bitterly. They will cast dust on their heads, they will wallow in ashes. Also they will make themselves bald for you and gird themselves with sackcloth; and they will weep for you in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning. Moreover, in their wailing they will take up a lamentation for you and lament over you: “Who is like Tyre, like her who is silent in the midst of the sea? When your wares went out from the seas, you satisfied many peoples; with the abundance of your wealth and your merchandise you enriched the kings of earth. Now that you are broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, your merchandise and all your company have fallen in the midst of you. All the inhabitants of the coastlands are appalled at you, and their kings are horribly afraid; they are troubled in countenance. The merchants among the peoples hiss at you; you have become terrified, and you will be no more.”‘”
Ezekiel 27:2-4,9,25-36
Tyre is a type of Babylon in that she was a very wealthy merchant nation that garnered her wealth from the seas which are a type of the nations. In the same way in Revelation 18 spiritual Babylon is the harlot church who has made herself rich according to the fleshly things of the world but is wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked according to the spirit (cf. Rev 3:17).
Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Because your heart is lifted up and you have said, “I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas“; yet you are a man and not God, although you make your heart like the heart of God….Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, “Because you have made your heart like the heart of God, therefore, behold, I will bring strangers upon you, the most ruthless of the nations. And they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor. They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die the death of those who are slain in the heart of the seas.”‘”
Ezekiel 28:2,6-8
Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him, “You compared yourself to a young lion of the nations, yet you are like the monster in the seas; and you burst forth in your rivers, and muddied the waters with your feet, and fouled (lit. fouled by stamping) their rivers.” Thus says the Lord GOD, “Now I will spread My net over you with a company of many peoples, and they shall lift you up in My net. And I will leave you on the land; I will cast you on the open field. And I will cause all the birds of the heavens to dwell on you, and I will satisfy the beasts of the whole earth with you (cf. Ps 74:14).”…For thus says the Lord GOD, “The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. By the swords of the mighty ones I will cause your multitude to fall; all of them are tyrants of the nations. And they shall devastate the pride of Egypt, and all its multitude shall be destroyed. I will also destroy all its cattle from beside many waters and the foot of man shall not muddy them anymore, and the hoofs of beasts (which come out of the sea) shall not muddy them. Then I will make their waters settle, and will cause their rivers to run like oil,” declares the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 32:2-4,11-14
Then he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar. And he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate by way of the gate that faces east. And behold, water was trickling down from the south side.
When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the loins. Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded. (In this way a trickle of truth from the throne of God becomes a river of life in the barren wilderness of man’s sinful state). And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me back to the bank of the river. Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees (of righteousness) on the one side and on the other. Then he said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea (the Dead Sea, where there is no life), being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh (lit. healed). And it will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there, and the others become fresh (are healed); so everything will live where the river goes. And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim (Engedi is on one side of the Dead Sea, Eneglaim is on the other side) there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many. But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh (lit. healed); they will be left for salt. And by the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.“
Ezekiel 47:1-12
Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, because there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land. There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing, and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky; and also the fish of the sea are taken away.
Hosea 4:1-3
But I will remove the northern army (the locusts who are the powers of darkness) far from you, and I will drive it into a parched and desolate land, and its vanguard into the eastern sea, and its rear guard into the western sea.
Joel 2:20
He who made the Pleiades and Orion and changes deep darkness into morning, who also darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is His name.
Amos 5:8, cf. 9:6
And though they hide on the summit of Carmel, I will search them out and take them from there; and though they conceal themselves from My sight on the floor of the sea, from there I will command the serpent and it will bite them.
Amos 9:3
And the LORD hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. Then the sailors became afraid, and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down, and fallen sound asleep….And Jonah said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.”…
So they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?”–for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them….
So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging….And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 1:4-5,9,11-13,15,17
Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish, and he said, “…For Thou hadst cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current engulfed me. All Thy breakers and billows passed over me….Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, weeds were wrapped around my head.
Jonah 2:1-3,5
Who is a God like Thee, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Micah 7:18-19
The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is His way. And clouds are the dust beneath His feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; He dries up all the rivers.
Nahum 1:3-4
Are you better than No-amon, which was situated by the waters of the Nile, with water surrounding her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall consisted of the sea?…Yet she became an exile, she went into captivity…
Nahum 3:8,10
Why hast Thou made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things without a ruler over them? The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook, drag them away with their net, and gather them together in their fishing net. Therefore, they rejoice and are glad. Therefore, they offer a sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their fishing net, because through these things their catch is large, and their food is plentiful. Will they therefore empty their net and continually slay nations without sparing?
Habakkuk 1:14-17
The net of the powers of darkness is the snare of sin; temptation is the hook and sin the net with which they drag away the nations like fish from the sea.
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2:14
Did the LORD rage against the rivers, or was Thine anger against the rivers, or was Thy wrath against the sea, that Thou didst ride on Thy horses, on Thy chariots of salvation? Thy bow was made bare, the rods of chastisement were sworn. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. The mountains saw Thee and quaked; the downpour of waters swept by. The deep uttered forth its voice, it lifted high its hands….In indignation Thou didst march through the earth; in anger Thou didst trample the nations. Thou didst go forth for the salvation of Thy people, for the salvation of Thine anointed. Thou didst strike the head of the house of the evil to lay him open from thigh to neck. Thou didst pierce with his own spears the head of his throngs. They stormed in to scatter us; their exultation was like those who devour the oppressed in secret. Thou didst tread on the sea with Thy horses, on the surge of many waters.
Habakkuk 3:8-10,12-15
Behold the Lord will dispossess Tyre and cast her wealth into the sea; and she will be consumed with fire.
Zechariah 9:4
And He will pass through the sea of distress, and strike the waves in the sea, so that all the depths of the Nile will dry up and the pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart.
Zechariah 10:11