Psalms 104:8

World English Bible

The mountains rose, The valleys sank down, To the place which you had assigned to them.

Parallel Translations

New Living Translation
Mountains rose and valleys sank to the levels you decreed.

English Revised Version
They went up by the mountains, they went down by the valleys, unto the place which thou hadst founded for them.

Update Bible Version
(The mountains rose, the valleys sank down) To the place which you had founded for them.

New Century Version
The mountains rose; the valleys sank. The water went to the places you made for it.

New English Translation
as the mountains rose up, and the valleys went down— to the place you appointed for them.

Webster's Bible Translation
They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys to the place which thou hast founded for them.

Amplified Bible
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down To the place which You established for them.

English Standard Version
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Hillis stien vp, and feeldis goen doun; in to the place which thou hast foundid to tho.

Berean Standard Bible
the mountains rose and the valleys sank to the place You appointed for them-

Contemporary English Version
down the mountains and through the valleys to the place you prepared.

American Standard Version
(The mountains rose, the valleys sank down) Unto the place which thou hadst founded for them.

Bible in Basic English
The mountains came up and the valleys went down into the place which you had made ready for them.

Complete Jewish Bible
flowing over hills, pouring into valleys, down to the place you had fixed for them.

Darby Translation
The mountains rose, the valleys sank, unto the place which thou hadst founded for them;—

Easy-to-Read Version
The water flowed down from the mountains into the valleys, to the places you made for it.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down--unto the place which Thou hadst founded for them;

King James Version (1611)
They go vp by the mountaines: they goe downe by the valleys vnto the place which thou hast founded for them.

New Life Bible
The mountains went up and the valleys went down to the place that You made for them.

New Revised Standard
They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys to the place that you appointed for them.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the mountaines ascend, and the valleis descend to the place which thou hast established for them.

George Lamsa Translation
The mountains ascend, the valleys descend to the place which thou hast founded for them.

Good News Translation
They flowed over the mountains and into the valleys, to the place you had made for them.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Mountains rise, Valleys sink, Unto the place which thou hast fixed for them;

Douay-Rheims Bible
(103-8) The mountains ascend, and the plains descend into the place which thou hast founded for them.

Revised Standard Version
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place which thou didst appoint for them.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The hilles mount aloft: and the valleys settle downe beneath vnto the place where thou hast layde a foundation for them.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
They go up to the mountains, and down to the plains, to the place which thou hast founded for them.

Christian Standard Bible®
mountains rose and valleys sank—to the place you established for them.

Hebrew Names Version
The mountains rose, The valleys sank down, To the place which you had assigned to them.

King James Version
They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.

Lexham English Bible
They ascended the mountains and drained though the valleys to the place that you established for them.

Literal Translation
They go up the mountains; they go down the valleys to the place which You founded for them.

Young's Literal Translation
They go up hills -- they go down valleys, Unto a place Thou hast founded for them.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then are the hilles sene alofte, & the valleys beneth in their place which thou hast appoynted for the.

New American Standard Bible
The mountains rose; the valleys sank down To the place which You established for them.

New King James Version
They went up over the mountains; They went down into the valleys, To the place which You founded for them.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The mountains rose; the valleys sank down To the place which You established for them.

Legacy Standard Bible
The mountains went up; the valleys went downTo the place which You founded for them.

Contextual Overview

¹ Bless Yahweh, my soul. Yahweh, my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty. ² He covers himself with light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain. ³ He lays the beams of his chambers in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind. ⁴ He makes his messengers winds; His servants flames of fire. ⁵ He laid the foundations of the earth, That it should not be moved forever. ⁶ You covered it with the deep as with a cloak. The waters stood above the mountains. ⁷ At your rebuke they fled. At the voice of your thunder they hurried away. ⁸ The mountains rose, The valleys sank down, To the place which you had assigned to them. ⁹ You have set a boundary that they may not pass over; That they don't turn again to cover the earth.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

They go up: etc. or, The mountains ascend, the valleys descend, Genesis 8:5

Reciprocal: Proverbs 3:20 - the depths Jonah 2:6 - mountains

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They go up by the mountains, they go down by the valleys,.... The Targum is,

"they ascend out of the deep to the mountains;''

that is, the waters, when they went off the earth at the divine orders, steered their course up the mountains, and then went down by the valleys to the place appointed for them; they went over hills and dales, nothing could stop them or retard their course till they came to their proper place; which is another instance of the almighty power of the Son of God. Some render the words, "the mountains ascended, the valleys descended m"; and then the meaning is, when the depth of waters were called off the earth, the mountains and valleys appeared, the one seemed to rise up and the other to go down; but the former reading seems best, and emblematically describes the state of God's people in this world, in their passage to their appointed place; who have sometimes mountains of difficulties to go over, and which seem insuperable, and yet they surmount them; sometimes they are upon the mount of heaven by contemplation, and have their hearts and affections above; they mount up with wings as eagles; sometimes they are upon the mount of communion with God, and by his favour their mount stands strong, and they think they shall never be moved; at other times they are down in the valleys, in a low estate and condition; in low frames of soul, in a low exercise of grace, and in the valley of the shadow of death, of afflictive providences in soul or body: and as the waters, thus steering their course under a divine direction, and by an almighty power, at length came unto the place which, the psalmist says, thou hast founded for them, meaning the seas; which the Lord founded and prepared for the reception of them; and which collection of waters in one place he called by that name, Genesis 1:10. So the Lord's people, through a variety of circumstances, trials, and exercises, will be all brought safe to the place appointed for them, and prepared by Christ in his Father's house; where they will be swallowed up in the boundless ocean of everlasting love.

m So Pagninus, Musculus, Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They go up by the mountains ... - That is, when they were gathered together into seas. They seemed to roll and tumble over hills and mountains, and to run down in valleys, until they found the deep hollows which had been formed for seas, and where they were permanently collected together. The margin here is, “The mountains ascend, the valleys descend.” So it is translated in the Septuagint, in the Latin Vulgate, by Luther, and by DeWette. The more natural idea, however, is that in our translation: “They (the waters) go up mountains; they descend valleys.”

Unto the place - The deep hollows of the earth, which seem to have been scooped out to make a place for them.

Which thou hast founded for them - Where thou hast laid a permanent foundation for them on which to rest; that is, which thou hast prepared for them.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 104:8. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys — Taking the words as they stand here, springs seem to be what are intended. But it is difficult to conceive how the water could ascend, through the fissures of mountains, to their tops, and then come down their sides so as to form rivulets to water the valleys. Most probably all the springs in mountains and hills are formed from waters which fall on their tops in the form of rain, or from clouds that, passing over them, are arrested, and precipitate their contents, which, sinking down, are stopped by some solid strata, till, forcing their way at some aperture at their sides, they form springs and fountains. Possibly, however, vapours and exhalations are understood; these by evaporation ascend to the tops of mountains, where they are condensed and precipitated. Thus the vapours ascend, and then come down to the valleys, forming fountains and rivulets in those places which the providence of God has allotted them; that is, continuous valleys, with such a degree of inclination as determines their waters to run in that direction till they reach another river, or fall into the ocean.

Some have thought there is a reference to the breaking up on the fountains of the great deep, at the time of the flood; while the protrusion of the waters would raise the circumambient crust, so as to form mountains, the other parts, falling in to fill up the vacuum occasioned by the waters which were thrown up from the central abyss, would constitute valleys.

Ovid seems to paraphrase this verse: -

Jussit et extendi campos, subsidere valles,

Fronde tegi sylvas, lapidosos surgere montes.

Met. lib. i., ver. 43.

"He shades the woods, the valleys he restrains

With rocky mountains, and extends the plains."

DRYDEN.