Psalms 18:9

Amplified Bible

He bowed the heavens also and came down; And thick darkness was under His feet.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He bent the heavens and came down,total darkness beneath his feet.

Hebrew Names Version
He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.

King James Version
He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.

English Standard Version
He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet.

New Century Version
He tore open the sky and came down with dark clouds under his feet.

New English Translation
He made the sky sink as he descended; a thick cloud was under his feet.

New American Standard Bible
He also bowed the heavens down low, and came down With thick darkness under His feet.

World English Bible
He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.

Geneva Bible (1587)
He bowed the heauens also & came downe, and darkenes was vnder his feete.

Legacy Standard Bible
He bowed the heavens and came downWith thick darkness under His feet.

Berean Standard Bible
He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds under His feet.

Contemporary English Version
You opened the heavens like curtains, and you came down with storm clouds under your feet.

Complete Jewish Bible
Smoke arose in his nostrils; out of his mouth came devouring fire; sparks blazed forth from him.

Darby Translation
And he bowed the heavens, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.

Easy-to-Read Version
He tore open the sky and came down! He stood on a thick, dark cloud.

George Lamsa Translation
He bowed the heavens and came down; and thick darkness was under his feet.

Good News Translation
He tore the sky open and came down with a dark cloud under his feet.

Lexham English Bible
So he bowed the heavens and came down with a thick cloud under his feet.

Literal Translation
He bowed the heavens also and came down, and darkness was under His feet;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He bowed the heaues & came downe, & it was darcke vnder his fete.

American Standard Version
He bowed the heavens also, and came down; And thick darkness was under his feet.

Bible in Basic English
The heavens were bent, so that he might come down; and it was dark under his feet.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Smoke arose up in His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth did devour;

King James Version (1611)
He bowed the heauens also, and came downe: and darkenesse was vnder his feet.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
He bowed the heauens also, and he came downe: and it was darke vnder his feete.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he bowed the heaven, and came down: and thick darkness was under his feet.

English Revised Version
He bowed the heavens also, and came down, and thick darkness was under his feet.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Smoke stiede in the ire of hym, and fier brente out fro his face; coolis weren kyndlid of hym.

Update Bible Version
He bowed the heavens also, and came down; And thick darkness was under his feet.

Webster's Bible Translation
He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness [was] under his feet.

New King James Version
He bowed the heavens also, and came down With darkness under His feet.

New Living Translation
He opened the heavens and came down; dark storm clouds were beneath his feet.

New Life Bible
He parted the heavens and came down. Dark clouds were under His feet.

New Revised Standard
He bowed the heavens, and came down; thick darkness was under his feet.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then he stretched out the heaven, and came down, - and, thick gloom, was under his feet;

Douay-Rheims Bible
(17-10) He bowed the heavens, and came down, and darkness was under his feet.

Revised Standard Version
He bowed the heavens, and came down; thick darkness was under his feet.

Young's Literal Translation
And He inclineth the heavens, and cometh down, And thick darkness [is] under His feet.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
He bowed the heavens also, and came down With thick darkness under His feet.

Contextual Overview

¹"I love You [fervently and devotedly], O LORD, my strength." ²The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and the One who rescues me; My God, my rock and strength in whom I trust and take refuge; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower—my stronghold. ³I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; And I am saved from my enemies. ⁴The cords of death surrounded me, And the streams of ungodliness and torrents of destruction terrified me. ⁵The cords of Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. ⁶In my distress [when I seemed surrounded] I called upon the LORD And cried to my God for help; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry for help came before Him, into His very ears. ⁷Then the earth shook and quaked, The foundations of the mountains trembled; They were shaken because He was indignant and angry. ⁸Smoke went up from His nostrils, And fire from His mouth devoured; Coals were kindled by it. ⁹He bowed the heavens also and came down; And thick darkness was under His feet.¹⁰And He rode upon a cherub (storm) and flew; And He sped on the wings of the wind.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

He bowed: Jehovah is here represented as a mighty warrior going forth to fight the battles of David. When He descended to the engagement, the very heavens bowed to render his descent more awful: His military tent was substantial darkness; the voice of His thunder was the warlike alarm which sounded to battle; the chariot in which He rode was the thick clouds of heaven, conducted by cherubs, and carried on by the irresistible force and rapid wings of an impetuous tempest; and the darts and weapons He employed were thunder-bolts, lightnings, fiery hail, deluging rains, and stormy winds! No wonder that when God arose all His enemies were scattered, and those that hated Him fled before Him. Psalms 68:4, Psalms 144:5-15, Deuteronomy 33:26, 2 Samuel 22:10, Isaiah 51:6, Joel 3:16, Matthew 24:29, Hebrews 12:26, 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 20:11

darkness: Deuteronomy 5:22, Deuteronomy 5:23, Mark 15:33, John 13:7

Reciprocal: Exodus 3:8 - I am Exodus 19:11 - the Lord Exodus 20:21 - thick Luke 9:34 - there

Cross-References

Genesis 4:9
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" And he [lied and] said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"

Genesis 24:67
Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and he took Rebekah [in marriage], and she became his wife, and he loved her; therefore Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

Genesis 31:33
So Laban went into Jacob's tent and into Leah's tent and the tent of the two maids, but he did not find them. Then he came out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's tent.

Titus 2:5
to be sensible, pure, makers of a home [where God is honored], good-natured, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He bowed the heavens also, and came down,.... To execute wrath and vengeance on wicked men; which is always the sense of these phrases when they go together; see Psalms 144:6; The Targum is, "he bowed the heavens, and his glory appeared"; that is, the glory of his power, and of his mighty hand of vengeance; for not his grace and mercy, but his indignation and wrath, showed themselves; for it follows,

and darkness [was] under his feet; the Targum is, "a dark cloud", expressive of the awfulness of the dispensation to wicked men; who are not allowed to see the face of God, are debarred his presence, and denied, communion with him, and to whom everything appears awful and terrible, Psalms 97:2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He bowed the heavens also - He seemed to bend down the heavens - to bring them nearer to the earth. “He inclines the canopy of the heavens, as it were, toward the earth; wraps himself in the darkness of night, and shoots forth his arrows; hurls abroad his lightnings, and wings them with speed.” Herder, Spirit of Hebrew Poetry (Marsh), ii. 157. The allusion is still to the tempest, when the clouds ran low; when they seem to sweep along the ground; when it appears as if the heavens were brought nearer to the earth - as if, to use a common expression, “the heavens and earth were coming together.”

And came down - God himself seemed to descend in the fury of the storm.

And darkness was under his feet - A dark cloud; or, the darkness caused by thick clouds. Compare Nahum 1:3, “The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.” Deuteronomy 4:11, “the mountain burned ... with thick darkness.” Deuteronomy 5:22, “these words the Lord spake out of the thick darkness.” Psalms 97:2, “clouds and darkness are round about him.” The idea here is that of awful majesty and power, as we are nowhere more forcibly impressed with the idea of majesty and power than in the fury of a storm.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 18:9. He bowed the heavens also, and came down — - He made the heavens bend under him when he descended to take vengeance on his enemies. The psalmist seems here to express the appearance of the Divine majesty in a glorious cloud, descending from heaven, which underneath was substantially dark, but above, bright, and shining with exceeding lustre; and which, by its gradual approach to the earth, would appear as though the heavens themselves were bending down and approaching towards us.