Psalm 74:12-23

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JPS Tanakh

12 O God, my King from of old,
who brings deliverance throughout the land;
13 it was You who drove back the sea with Your might,
who smashed the heads of the monsters in the waters [תַ֝נִּינִ֗ים];
14 it was You who crushed the heads of Leviathan,
who left him as food for the denizens of the desert;
15 it was You who released springs and torrents,
who made mighty rivers run dry;
16 the day is Yours, the night also;
it was You who set in place the orb of the sun;
17 You fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
summer and winter—You made them.

KJV

12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters [תַ֝נִּינִ֗ים].
14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.
19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.
20 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.
21 O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.
23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.

NET (NET Bible has very informative notes:)

12 But God has been my[a] king from ancient times,
performing acts of deliverance on the earth.[b]
13 You destroyed[c] the sea by your strength;
you shattered the heads of the sea monster[d] in the water.

NET Bible notes

 [a] tn The psalmist speaks as Israel's representative here. 
 [b] tn Heb "in the midst of the earth." 
 [c] tn The derivation and meaning of the Polel verb form פּוֹרַרְתָּ (porarta) are uncertain. The form may be related to an Akkadian cognate meaning "break, shatter," though the biblical Hebrew cognate of this verb always appears in the Hiphil or Hophal stem. BDB 830 s.v. II פָּרַר suggests a homonym here, meaning "to split; to divide." A Hitpolel form of a root פָּרַר (parar) appears in Isa 24:19 with the meaning "to shake violently." 
 [d] tn The Hebrew text has the plural form, "sea monsters" (cf. NRSV "dragons"), but it is likely that an original enclitic mem has been misunderstood as a plural ending. The imagery of the mythological sea monster is utilized here. See the note on "Leviathan" in v. 14. 

14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;[e]
you fed[f] him to the people who live along the coast.[g]

 [e] sn You crushed the heads of Leviathan. The imagery of vv. 13-14 originates in West Semitic mythology. The description of Leviathan should be compared with the following excerpts from Ugaritic mythological texts: (1) "Was not the dragon [Ugaritic tnn, cognate with Hebrew תַּנִין (tanin), translated "sea monster" in v. 13] vanquished and captured? I did destroy the wriggling [Ugaritic 'qltn, cognate to Hebrew עֲקַלָּתוֹן ('aqallaton), translated "squirming" in Isa 27:1] serpent, the tyrant with seven heads" (note the use of the plural "heads" here and in v. 13). (See CTA 3.iii.38-39 in G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 50.) (2) "For all that you smote Leviathan the slippery [Ugaritic brh, cognate to Hebrew בָּרִחַ (bariakh), translated "fast moving" in Isa 27:1 serpent, [and] made an end of the wriggling serpent, the tyrant with seven heads" (See CTA 5.i.1-3 in G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 68.) In the myths Leviathan is a sea creature that symbolizes the destructive water of the sea and, in turn, the forces of chaos that threaten the established order. In the OT, the battle with the sea motif is applied to Yahweh's victories over the forces of chaos at creation and in history (see Psalm 74:13-14 [above]; Pss 77:16-20; 89:9-10; Isa 51:9-10). Yahweh's subjugation of the waters of chaos is related to his kingship (see Pss 29:3, 10; 93:3-4). Isa 27:1 applies imagery from Canaanite mythology to Yahweh's eschatological victory over his enemies. Apocalyptic literature employs the imagery as well. The beasts of Dan 7 emerge from the sea, while Rev 13 speaks of a seven-headed beast coming from the sea. Here in Psalm 74:13-14 [above] the primary referent is unclear. The psalmist may be describing God's creation of the world (note vv. 16-17 and see Ps 89:9-12), when he brought order out of a watery mass, or the exodus (see Isa 51:9-10), when he created Israel by destroying the Egyptians in the waters of the sea. 
 [f] tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a preterite in this narrational context. 
 [g] sn You fed him to the people. This pictures the fragments of Leviathan's dead corpse washing up on shore and being devoured by those who find them. If the exodus is in view, then it may allude to the bodies of the dead Egyptians which washed up on the shore of the Red Sea (see Exod 14:30). 

15 You broke open the spring and the stream;[h]
you dried up perpetually flowing rivers.[i]

 [h] sn You broke open the spring and the stream. Perhaps this alludes to the way in which God provided water for the Israelites as they traveled in the wilderness following the exodus (see Ps 78:15-16, 20; 105:41). 
 [i] sn Perpetually flowing rivers are rivers that contain water year round, unlike the seasonal streams that flow only during the rainy season. Perhaps the psalmist here alludes to the drying up of the Jordan River when the Israelites entered the land of Canaan under Joshua (see Josh 3-4). 

16 You established the cycle of day and night;[j]
you put the moon[k] and sun in place.[l]

 [j] tn Heb "To you [is] day, also to you [is] night." 
 [k] tn Heb "[the] light." Following the reference to "day and night" and in combination with "sun," it is likely that the Hebrew term מָאוֹר (ma'or, "light") refers here to the moon. 
 [l] tn Heb "you established [the] light and [the] sun." 

A Creation Record

Scholars identify the dividing of the sea, cleaving of the fountains and floods, the dragons in the waters and Leviathan as echoes of ANE creation myths. The "creation record" of this psalm appropriates the language and imagery of polytheism for the praise of the One God, Father and Creator of all. See The Exodus as a New Creation. Compare the praise of Yahweh as "The Cloud Rider" in Psalm 68:4.

— Bruce
← back to the Cloud Rider Continue a tour of the Bible's Creation Texts next →

This passage was referenced here (4.5.2) in our responses to the AACE discussion questions.

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