Read
Psalm 46:3
though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling. Selah.
1For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;
3though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling. Selah.
4There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tents of the Most High.
5God is within her. She shall not be moved. God will help her at dawn.
Notice
Roaring water and trembling mountains picture a world where even the firmest things give way, testing what it means to trust God amid upheaval.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What, if anything, in your life feels as unsettled as these roaring waters?
Write on thisHow does the repeated “though” shape your reading of the psalm’s refusal to fear?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 93:3–4The floods have lifted up, LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves.Both passages describe water through its sound and movement: roaring seas in Psalm 46 and floods lifting their voice in Psalm 93.
Jeremiah 5:22Don’t you fear me?’ says the LORD; ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it can’t …Both describe roaring waters; Jeremiah names God’s boundary for the sea, while Psalm 46 pictures mountains trembling at its swelling.
Luke 21:25“There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; and on the earth anxiety of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the waves;The roaring sea appears in both passages, with Luke naming the nations’ anxiety and Psalm 46 describing mountains that tremble.
Job 9:5–6He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it, when he overturns them in his anger.Mountains lose their apparent permanence in both passages: they tremble in Psalm 46, and God overturns them in Job.
Judges 5:4–5“LORD, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the sky also dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water.Both portray the natural world trembling, though Judges connects the trembling earth with the LORD’s march from Seir.
Micah 1:4The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place.Both depict mountains giving way and waters in motion; Micah describes mountains melting under God and water pouring down a slope.
Nahum 1:5The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it.Trembling mountains connect these passages, with Nahum naming God’s presence as the cause of the mountains’ quaking.
Revelation 16:20Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.Both portray upheaval reaching the mountains: Psalm 46 describes their trembling, while Revelation describes their disappearance.
Psalm 114:4–7The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs.Both portray mountains in motion, using trembling in Psalm 46 and the startling likeness of skipping rams in Psalm 114.
Isaiah 5:3“Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.Both use features of the natural world, though Isaiah’s vineyard dispute shares no direct image with the roaring sea.
Job 38:11and said, ‘You may come here, but no further. Your proud waves shall be stopped here’?Both passages describe forceful waters, though Job emphasizes the limit God sets for the waves rather than their unsettling force.
Matthew 7:25The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock.Both describe threatening water; Matthew’s house withstands the floods, while Psalm 46 portrays mountains trembling under the sea’s swelling.
Where this verse fits
Fear for the future. anxiety or panic.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The waters remain loud in this line. The psalm’s confidence rests on God’s presence in trouble; even when the mountains tremble, God remains a refuge.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).