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Psalm 89:10
You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain. You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
8LORD, God of Armies, who is a mighty one, like you? LORD, your faithfulness is around you.
9You rule the pride of the sea. When its waves rise up, you calm them.
10You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain. You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11The heavens are yours. The earth also is yours, the world and its fullness. You have founded them.
12You have created the north and the south. Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.
Notice
Rahab lies broken like a slain enemy, a violent picture within praise of the God who rules the sea and founded the world.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What troubles or reassures you about this praise using the language of death and defeat?
Write on thisHow does the picture of enemies scattered by God's arm shape your response to threatening power?
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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
Isaiah 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the LORD! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who …Both describe Rahab cut or broken in pieces and name the LORD's arm as the strength behind that defeat.
Psalm 68:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. A song. Let God arise! Let his enemies be scattered! Let them who hate him also flee before him.Psalm 68 asks God to scatter his enemies; Psalm 89 praises him for having scattered them.
Job 9:13“God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.Both name Rahab in descriptions of God's overwhelming power: Rahab is broken, and Rahab's helpers stoop beneath God.
Psalm 92:9For behold, your enemies, LORD, for behold, your enemies shall perish. All the evildoers will be scattered.Both describe God's enemies being scattered, with Psalm 92 also naming their coming destruction.
Psalm 68:30Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample under foot the bars of silver. Scatter the nations who …Both speak of scattering opponents: Psalm 68 asks God to scatter war-loving nations, while Psalm 89 recounts his victory.
Psalm 87:4I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me. Behold, Philistia, Tyre, and also Ethiopia: “This one was born there.”Both name Rahab, though Psalm 89 describes defeat and Psalm 87 includes Rahab among those who acknowledge God.
Luke 1:51He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.Both describe God showing strength with his arm and scattering those who oppose him, named in Luke as the proud.
Job 40:9Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him?Both use God's arm to speak of his might; Job challenges any claim to possess strength like his.
Deuteronomy 4:34Or has God tried to go and take a nation for himself from among another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand, by an outstretched …Both describe God's arm as mighty in conflict, with Deuteronomy naming his acts to take a nation out of Egypt.
Isaiah 24:1Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants.Both portray God scattering people through acts of devastation, though Isaiah names the earth's inhabitants rather than God's enemies.
Exodus 3:19–20I know that the king of Egypt won’t give you permission to go, no, not by a mighty hand.Both speak of might amid opposition; Exodus names Egypt's resistant king, while the psalm celebrates God's enemies defeated.
Exodus 7:1–15The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.The shared thread is God's authority; Exodus names Moses and Pharaoh without describing the defeat celebrated in the psalm.
Where this verse fits
Praise and worship. injustice and anger. fear for the future.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The violence in this praise is stark. Its claim is that even the strength set against God falls before his mighty arm.
Now put it in your words.
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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).