Psalm 105:29 kjv
He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish.
Psalm 105:29 nkjv
He turned their waters into blood, And killed their fish.
Psalm 105:29 niv
He turned their waters into blood, causing their fish to die.
Psalm 105:29 esv
He turned their waters into blood and caused their fish to die.
Psalm 105:29 nlt
He turned their water into blood,
poisoning all the fish.
Psalm 105 29 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Exod 7:17 | "...I will strike the water in the Nile with the staff...it will turn to blood." | Direct account of the first plague. |
| Exod 7:18 | "The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink..." | Specific outcome: fish death and river stench. |
| Exod 7:19 | "...all the water in Egypt—its rivers, canals, ponds, and all its reservoirs..." | Extent of the plague, not just the Nile. |
| Ps 78:44 | "He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink from their streams." | Recounts the same plague. |
| Ps 106:8 | "...he saved them for his name's sake, to make his mighty power known." | Purpose of plagues: God's glory and salvation. |
| Isa 43:16 | "Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters," | God's power over waters. |
| Ezek 29:3-4 | "...I will put hooks in your jaws, and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales..." | Judgment affecting fish, though figurative here. |
| Joel 2:30-31 | "And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke." | Future divine judgment with "blood" imagery. |
| Rev 8:8-9 | "The second angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sea became blood...and a third of the living creatures in the sea died." | New Testament parallel: waters turn to blood as judgment. |
| Rev 11:6 | "These have the power...to turn water into blood..." | Two witnesses' power, echoing Moses. |
| Rev 16:3 | "The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood, like that of a dead man..." | End-time plague mirroring Exodus blood plague. |
| Rev 16:4 | "The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood." | Similar end-time judgment on fresh waters. |
| John 2:7-9 | "Jesus said to them, 'Fill the jars with water.' And they filled them to the brim...When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine..." | Christ's power over creation, transforming water. |
| Rom 9:17 | "For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.'" | The plagues' purpose: to display God's power. |
| Deut 29:22-23 | "...all its soil burned out with sulfur and salt...like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah..." | Land ravaged by divine judgment, parallel to plagues. |
| Ps 33:6-9 | "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made...For he spoke, and it came to be..." | God's absolute creative and authoritative power. |
| Gen 1:9-10 | "And God said, 'Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together...'" | God's original sovereignty over waters. |
| Ezek 47:9 | "Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live..." | Water as a source of life in contrast to judgment. |
| John 4:10-14 | "...the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” | Christ as the source of true spiritual life (water). |
| Amos 5:8 | "He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into morning and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth—the Lord is his name" | God's supreme control over all creation. |
Psalm 105 verses
Psalm 105 29 Meaning
Psalm 105:29 describes the first of the ten plagues that the Lord brought upon Egypt, recounting how He sovereignly intervened by transforming the nation's life-giving waters into blood. This divine act resulted in the immediate death of all the fish, a crucial food source for the Egyptians, plunging them into both ritual defilement and severe economic distress. It was a profound display of God's power and judgment against Egypt and its deities.
Psalm 105 29 Context
Psalm 105 is a psalm of thanksgiving and historical remembrance, recounting God's faithfulness to Israel through His covenant. The psalm praises God for His wondrous deeds, His mighty acts, and the judgments He executed on behalf of His chosen people.
Verses 23-45 detail the story of the Exodus, focusing on God's intervention to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage. Psalm 105:29 is situated within this narrative, specifically describing the plagues (verses 26-38) that God brought upon Egypt through Moses and Aaron. The plagues were divine judgments designed to compel Pharaoh to release Israel and to demonstrate Yahweh's unparalleled sovereignty over all creation and pagan deities. This verse, describing the first plague, sets the stage for God's overwhelming display of power against Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt, leading to Israel's eventual liberation.
Psalm 105 29 Word analysis
- He turned: The Hebrew word is Hafakh (הָפַךְ), meaning "to turn over," "to change," or "to overthrow." It implies a complete, radical, and miraculous transformation, indicating God's direct, active, and immediate intervention. This was not a gradual or natural process but a supernatural reversal of nature.
- their waters: Refers primarily to the Nile River, the lifeblood of ancient Egypt, along with its intricate system of canals, irrigation channels, and even water collected in vessels. The possessive "their" emphasizes that God struck at the very heart of Egypt's sustenance and way of life. The Nile was worshipped as a god (e.g., Hapi), and this act was a direct assault on the Egyptian pantheon, revealing their gods' impotence before the One True God.
- into blood: The Hebrew is Dam (דָּם), literally "blood." This signifies defilement, death, and an inversion of life. Water, typically pure and life-giving, became corrupting and deadly. This transformation was a direct assault on Egyptian religious beliefs, as blood was ritually defiling, and the Nile, a source of life and purity, was made impure. It was also an attack on their literal existence, making their primary resource undrinkable and deadly.
- and caused their fish to die: The verb "caused...to die" is from the Hiphil causative stem of mut (מוּת), meaning God directly caused their death. "Fish" (דָּגָה, dagah) were a primary source of protein and income for Egyptians, heavily reliant on the Nile's abundance. Their death not only created a foul stench but also severely impacted the Egyptian economy and food supply. This plague highlighted God's power over life and death, even in the very waters that sustained Egyptian society.
Words-group analysis:
- He turned their waters into blood and caused their fish to die: This entire phrase describes God's complete dominion over nature and His readiness to use creation as an instrument of judgment. It signifies a comprehensive blow against Egypt: economically (loss of food), spiritually (defilement, impotent gods), and existentially (lack of drinkable water). The action reveals a God who actively intervenes in human history, demonstrates His power, and upholds His covenant purposes.
Psalm 105 29 Bonus section
The miracle described in Psalm 105:29 (and Exod 7:14-25) was profoundly multifaceted. It was not a localized phenomenon or merely an aesthetic change. The Bible indicates the transformation applied to all waters in Egypt—rivers, canals, ponds, and even water stored in vessels of wood and stone. This universality further emphasizes the miraculous and direct nature of God's judgment, as it permeated every aspect of Egyptian life and left no alternative source of clean water, unlike simple contaminations or a single river turning red. The Nile's fish, the symbolic embodiment of the fertility brought by Hapi, the Nile god, were all destroyed, making it clear that Yahweh held sway over life, death, and the very foundations of the Egyptian economy and theology. This plague demonstrated that the Egyptian gods, intrinsically linked to their natural environment, were powerless when God decided to corrupt that very environment.
Psalm 105 29 Commentary
Psalm 105:29 succinctly captures God's powerful and decisive judgment against Egypt, illustrating the first of the ten plagues. This verse goes beyond a simple historical retelling; it underscores Yahweh's absolute sovereignty over creation and His triumph over all pagan deities. The Nile, revered as a god and central to Egyptian life, was utterly corrupted, turning from a symbol of vitality to one of death and defilement. The accompanying death of the fish, a cornerstone of their sustenance, crippled Egypt's food supply and exposed the helplessness of its gods, who could not protect even their aquatic inhabitants. This was not merely an act of punishment but a theological confrontation, designed to show Pharaoh and all Egypt that Yahweh alone is the Living God, whose power transcends all other purported divinities, thereby demonstrating His glory and securing the release of His covenant people.