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Psalm 89:9
You rule the pride of the sea. When its waves rise up, you calm them.
7a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones, to be feared above all those who are around him?
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.
Notice
Rising waves make the sea seem beyond restraint, yet the verse speaks straight to God as the one who rules and calms it.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What do you picture when the sea is described as having pride?
Write on thisWhat difference, if any, does God's rule over rising waves make to a fear you face?
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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 65:7You still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations.Both psalms address God as the one who stills the sea's waves; Psalm 65 also names the turmoil of nations.
Psalm 107:25–29For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up its waves.Both passages describe rising waves under God's command; Psalm 107 names him as the one who raises the wind.
Mark 4:41They were greatly afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”The sea that God rules in the psalm obeys Jesus in the disciples' astonished question.
Mark 4:39He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was a great calm.Psalm 89 praises God for calming rising waves; Mark records Jesus commanding the sea to be still.
Matthew 8:24–27Behold, a violent storm came up on the sea, so much that the boat was covered with the waves; but he was asleep.Both passages describe waves on the sea; Matthew shows their danger as they cover a boat.
Psalm 93:3–4The floods have lifted up, LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves.Both psalms speak to God about waters lifting their waves, describing the force of the waters.
Psalm 29:10The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood. Yes, the LORD sits as King forever.God's rule over the sea in Psalm 89 shares the royal language of the LORD enthroned at the Flood.
Job 38:8–11“Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,Both passages portray the sea as subject to restraint: God rules its waves, and Job describes it shut behind doors.
Matthew 8:26He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.The calming of the sea joins these passages: Psalm 89 praises God's rule, and Matthew describes calm after Jesus' rebuke.
Nahum 1:4He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel languish. The flower of Lebanon languishes.Both passages declare God's authority over the sea, expressed through calming its waves in the psalm and drying it in Nahum.
Matthew 14:32When they got up into the boat, the wind ceased.Psalm 89 describes God calming waves; Matthew records the wind ceasing when they enter the boat.
Job 38:11and said, ‘You may come here, but no further. Your proud waves shall be stopped here’?The sea's pride links these passages: Psalm 89 says God rules it, while Job describes proud waves being stopped.
Where this verse fits
Praise and worship. fear for the future. anxiety or panic.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
These words set no timetable for relief from your troubles. They declare that even the sea, with all its force, remains under God's rule.
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).