Psalm 144:5
New International Version
Part your heavens, LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, so that they smoke.

New Living Translation
Open the heavens, LORD, and come down. Touch the mountains so they billow smoke.

English Standard Version
Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down! Touch the mountains so that they smoke!

Berean Standard Bible
Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke.

King James Bible
Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

New King James Version
Bow down Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

New American Standard Bible
Bend down Your heavens, LORD, and come down; Touch the mountains, that they may smoke.

NASB 1995
Bow Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; Touch the mountains, that they may smoke.

NASB 1977
Bow Thy heavens, O LORD, and come down; Touch the mountains, that they may smoke.

Legacy Standard Bible
O Yahweh, bow Your heavens, and come down; Touch the mountains, that they may smoke.

Amplified Bible
Bow Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.

Christian Standard Bible
LORD, part your heavens and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
LORD, part Your heavens and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.

American Standard Version
Bow thy heavens, O Jehovah, and come down: Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

Contemporary English Version
Open the heavens like a curtain and come down, LORD. Touch the mountains and make them send up smoke.

English Revised Version
Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
O LORD, bend your heaven low, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.

Good News Translation
O LORD, tear the sky open and come down; touch the mountains, and they will pour out smoke.

International Standard Version
Bow your heavens, LORD, and descend; touch the mountains, and they will smolder.

Majority Standard Bible
Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke.

NET Bible
O LORD, make the sky sink and come down! Touch the mountains and make them smolder!

New Heart English Bible
Part your heavens, LORD, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.

Webster's Bible Translation
Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

World English Bible
Part your heavens, Yahweh, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
YHWH, incline Your heavens and come down, "" Strike against mountains, and they smoke.

Young's Literal Translation
Jehovah, incline Thy heavens and come down, Strike against mountains, and they smoke.

Smith's Literal Translation
O Jehovah, incline thy heavens, and thou wilt come down: touch upon the mountains and they shall smoke.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Lord, bow down thy heavens and descend: touch the mountains and they shall smoke.

Catholic Public Domain Version
O Lord, incline your heavens and descend. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.

New American Bible
LORD, incline your heavens and come down; touch the mountains and make them smoke.

New Revised Standard Version
Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains so that they smoke.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down; rebuke the mountains, and they shall smoke.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Bend Heaven, LORD JEHOVAH, and come down, and severely rebuke the mountains and they will be reduced to smoke!
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
O LORD, bow Thy heavens, and come down; Touch the mountains, that they may smoke.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
O Lord, bow thy heavens, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Blessed Be the LORD, My Rock
4Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. 5Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke. 6Flash forth Your lightning and scatter them; shoot Your arrows and rout them.…

Cross References
Isaiah 64:1
If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence,

Exodus 19:18
Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.

2 Samuel 22:10
He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds beneath His feet.

Isaiah 63:19
We have become like those You never ruled, like those not called by Your name.

Habakkuk 3:6
He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations; the ancient mountains crumbled; the perpetual hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting.

Deuteronomy 4:11
You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.

Judges 5:4-5
O LORD, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the land of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain, and the clouds poured down water. / The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai, before the LORD, the God of Israel.

Psalm 18:9
He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds beneath His feet.

Psalm 68:8
the earth shook and the heavens poured down rain before God, the One on Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.

Psalm 97:5
The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.

Psalm 104:32
He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smolder.

Revelation 6:14
The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.

Revelation 19:11
Then I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse. And its rider is called Faithful and True. With righteousness He judges and wages war.

Matthew 24:29-30
Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ / At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Mark 13:25-26
the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’ / At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.


Treasury of Scripture

Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

bow

Psalm 18:9
He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.

Isaiah 64:1,2
Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, …

touch

Psalm 104:32
He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.

Exodus 19:18
And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

Nahum 1:3-6
The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet…

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Bow Heavens Incline Mountains Part Smoke Strike Touch
Psalm 144
1. David blesses God for his mercy both to him and to man
5. He prays that God would powerfully deliver him from his enemies
9. He promises to praise God
11. He prays for the happy state of the kingdom














Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down
Part Your heavens
The phrase "Part Your heavens" is a vivid depiction of divine intervention. The Hebrew word for "part" is "natah," which means to stretch out or extend. This imagery suggests an active and powerful movement by God, as if He is pulling back the curtain of the sky to reveal His presence. In the ancient Near Eastern context, the heavens were often seen as a barrier between the divine and human realms. By parting the heavens, God is portrayed as breaking through this barrier to engage directly with His creation. This action signifies God's willingness to intervene in human affairs, demonstrating His sovereignty and authority over the cosmos.

O LORD
The use of "O LORD" here is significant. The term "LORD" in all capital letters is a translation of the Hebrew "YHWH," the personal name of God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14. This name is considered sacred and denotes God's eternal, self-existent nature. By invoking this name, the psalmist is appealing to the covenant-keeping God of Israel, who is both transcendent and immanent. It reflects a deep, personal relationship and trust in God's power and faithfulness. The psalmist's plea is not to a distant deity but to a personal God who has a history of delivering His people.

and come down
The phrase "and come down" is a request for God's immediate and tangible presence. The Hebrew word "yarad" means to descend or come down. This is a call for God to manifest His presence in a way that is perceptible and transformative. Throughout the Old Testament, God's descent is often associated with significant events, such as the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:20) or His presence in the tabernacle. The psalmist's plea for God to "come down" is a desire for divine intervention that brings about change, deliverance, and restoration. It is a recognition of human dependence on God's active involvement in the world.

(5) Come down.--The theophany for which the psalmist prays is described in the classic language for such manifestations taken from Psalm 18:9; Psalm 18:13; Psalm 18:16-17; Psalm 18:43; Psalm 18:45, with reminiscences of Psalm 104:32; Exodus 19:18. But there are touches of originality, as in the next clause. . . . Verse 5. - Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down. The strain changes. From praise of God's loving-kindness and might, the psalmist proceeds to invoke his aid. Taking his metaphors from Psalm 18:9. "Bow thy heavens, O Lord," he says, "and come down" to earth - appear in thy might, to the discomfiture of thy enemies and the relief of thy faithful ones. Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. Do as thou wert pleased to do at Sinai, when thou showedst thyself - "Touch the mountains, and let a smoke go up from them" (see Exodus 19:16, 18; Deuteronomy 4:11; Psalm 18:7-14) - a consuming fire, that shall burn up the ungodly.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Part
הַט־ (haṭ-)
Verb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine singular
Strong's 5186: To stretch out, spread out, extend, incline, bend

Your heavens,
שָׁמֶ֣יךָ (šā·me·ḵā)
Noun - masculine plural construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 8064: Heaven, sky

O LORD,
יְ֭הוָה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

and come down;
וְתֵרֵ֑ד (wə·ṯê·rêḏ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 3381: To come or go down, descend

touch
גַּ֖ע (ga‘)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine singular
Strong's 5060: To touch, lay the hand upon, to reach, violently, to strike

the mountains,
בֶּהָרִ֣ים (be·hā·rîm)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 2022: Mountain, hill, hill country

that they may smoke.
וְֽיֶעֱשָֽׁנוּ׃ (wə·ye·‘ĕ·šā·nū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 6225: To smoke, be angry


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OT Poetry: Psalm 144:5 Part your heavens Yahweh and come down (Psalm Ps Psa.)
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