Psalms 48:7 · Bible study
Psalms 48:7 Commentary: God Breaks Ships of Tarshish with an East Wind
Hebrew · 11 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Study of Psalm 48:7: does it describe a historical shipwreck or a metaphor for God's power?
Research Summary
- Meaning: God’s irresistible power to shatter the strongest human forces, like a storm destroying large ships.
- Key words: “breakest” (violent destruction), “ships of Tarshish” (largest ancient vessels), “east wind” (destructive storm wind).
- Main debate: Historical reference (Jehoshaphat’s fleet or Cambyses) vs. general metaphor for divine power.
- Theological theme: God’s sovereignty over creation and nations; Zion’s security rests in God alone.
- Best use: In preaching on God’s sovereignty, judgment, and the fragility of human trust in material wealth.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
With a wind from the east You wrecked the ships of Tarshish.
WEB World English Bible 2000
With the east wind, you break the ships of Tarshish.
KJV King James Version 1769
Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
With the east wind Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
By an east wind Thou shiverest ships of Tarshish.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
With an east wind thou hast broken the ships of Tarshish.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
They that trust in their own strength, and glory in the multitude of their riches,
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Con viento solano quiebras tú las naves de Tharsis.
Com o vento do oriente tu quebras os navios de Társis.
Là un tremblement les a saisis,
Du zerbrichst die Schiffe im Meer durch den Ostwind.
Beving greep hen aldaar aan, smart als van een barende vrouw.
Col vento orientale tu spezzi le navi di Tarsis.
Strach ich tam ogarnął i boleść, jako niewiastę rodzącą.
Надеющиеся на силы свои и хвалящиеся множеством богатства своего!
神啊，你用東 風 打破 他施 的船隻。
By you the ships of Tarshish are broken as by an east wind.
Verse in Context
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that this verse illustrates God's absolute power to destroy the strongest enemies. Barnes calls it a metaphor for the ease with which God overthrows mighty armies. The Cambridge Bible stresses the language is “plainly metaphorical”, the east wind, notorious for destructiveness, and ships of Tarshish, the largest vessels of the ancient world, symbolize the collapse of proud human strength. Gill and Wesley see the verse as a vivid image of God shattering hostile forces. While some, such as Adam Clarke and Calvin, propose specific historical allusions to Jehoshaphat’s navy or Cambyses’ fleet, the main point is not an exact event but the truth that no power, naval or military, can stand against Israel’s God.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Historical reference: Links to Jehoshaphat’s navy (1 Kings 22:48) or Cambyses’ fleet; supported by Clarke, Calvin
- General metaphor: Poetic image of God’s power; no need for specific event; supported by Barnes, Cambridge Bible, Gill
What is clear: The verse affirms God’s ability to destroy the strongest human powers, bringing deliverance to His people.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Type of reference | The verse shows God’s power to defeat enemies, whether literal ships or a metaphor for armies. | Some (Calvin, Clarke) tie it to specific historical invasions; others (Barnes, Cambridge Bible) read it as a general image of divine strength. |
| Identification of Tarshish | Tarshish refers to a distant port (likely Tartessus in Spain); ‘ships of Tarshish’ means large, oceangoing vessels. | Gill and others take ‘Tarshish’ generically to mean ‘the sea.’ The precise location is debated. |
| East wind as symbol | The east wind was notoriously destructive in the Mediterranean, so it represents God’s judgment. | Some see it as a literal storm; others as metaphor for any sudden divine intervention. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Psalm 48 celebrates a great deliverance of Jerusalem. The identity of the threat is uncertain; Calvin suggested the reign of Ahaz or Jehoshaphat, while others point to the Assyrian siege under Sennacherib. Whatever the crisis, the poet pictures the enemy kings seeing Zion, panicking, and fleeing (v. 4-6). Then comes verse 7: “With the east wind, you break the ships of Tarshish.”
Ships of Tarshish were the super-freighters of their day. Tartessus, in south-west Spain, was a long, dangerous voyage. These large, stout vessels came to symbolize wealth and human achievement (Isaiah 2:16; 1 Kings 10:22). The east wind in the Mediterranean was feared for sudden, violent storms. Jeremiah 18:17 and Ezekiel 27:26 use the same image of judgment.
In the psalm, the phrase may derive from the disaster that befell Jehoshaphat’s fleet at Ezion Geber (1 Kings 22:48). Barnes notes that such a memory would remind Israel that even their own proud projects can be broken, teaching humility. Or it may simply be a stock metaphor from nature. Either way, the historical setting is a moment when human power, whether Assyrian, Syrian, or naval, met its match in the Creator.
Textual Notes
Reception History
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- Human strength is fragile. Ships of Tarshish were the best technology, yet they shatter like toys.
- God is Lord of the elements. The east wind obeys Him; no natural force works against His purposes.
- Zion’s enemies are scattered. The kings who threatened Jerusalem are no match for the God who breaks ships.
Five-point outline
- God’s hand behind the storm: the east wind is His tool.
- The meaning of “Tarshish”: a symbol of human enterprise and trade.
- Historic echoes: Jehoshaphat’s wrecked fleet or Cambyses’ disaster.
- Metaphor for God’s victory: the Assyrian army vanishes like a smacked ship.
- Application: what are our “ships of Tarshish”, the resources we trust in more than God?
Illustration hooks
- A person who built a successful business loses everything overnight in a market crash, our security is fragile.
- A fierce storm that grounds all flights or sinks boats reminds us who controls the weather.
- Modern “ships of Tarshish”: a retirement fund, a military alliance, or a political leader we lean on instead of God.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Does this psalm promise God will literally destroy my enemies today, or is it for ancient Israel alone?
- If God can break ships, why does He allow evil to continue for so long?
- How do I know when a “storm” in my life is God’s judgment versus just natural hardship?
Leading a Discussion
Psalm 48:7 stands in a song of corporate thanksgiving for God’s rescue. The group should first read the whole psalm (vv. 1-14), then focus on verse 7. Discuss how the image of a shipwreck helps us trust God in times of crisis.
Discussion questions
- Why do you think the poet chose a ship being broken, what does that image say about human pride?
- Read 1 Kings 22:48 and Ezekiel 27:26. How do these passages colour your understanding of “ships of Tarshish”?
- Barnes says the verse may not refer to a specific historical event but is a general illustration of God’s power. Which view do you find more compelling, and why?
- The east wind is destructive. In what ways have you experienced God’s power as unsettling or frightening, rather than comforting?
- What “ships” do you personally rely on, money, status, relationships, that might need to be broken so you trust God more?
- How does the psalm’s movement from terror (v. 5-6) to thanksgiving (v. 9-11) give hope in a difficult season?
- If this is metaphorical, what does it mean for our prayers today when we face overwhelming odds?
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| I Kings 10:22 | For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. |
| I Kings 22:48 | Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they didn’t go, for the ships wrecked at Ezion Geber. |
| Isaiah 2:16 | for all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery. |
| Jeremiah 18:17 | I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity. |
| Ezekiel 27:25 | “‘“The ships of Tarshish were your caravans for your merchandise. You were replenished and made very glorious in the heart of the seas. |
| Ezekiel 27:26 | Your rowers have brought you into great waters. The east wind has broken you in the heart of the seas. |
Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
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What the Commentators Say
11 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke identifies the ships of Tarshish as large, sturdy vessels built for the voyage to Tarsus in Cilicia. Drawing on Calmet, he connects this verse to a specific historical event: the storm that wrecked Cambyses' fleet near the coast of Acco while his army camped in the Jezreel valley.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes argues that the broken ships illustrate God's power to destroy human strength with ease, but he adds a humbling twist: this image likely reminded Jehoshaphat and Israel that their own navy had been shattered by God the same way. Their real defense was never walls or ships, but God alone.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin argues that Psalm 48 must have been written after David's reign, because it describes a siege and miraculous rescue that never happened in David's day. He suggests the psalm likely celebrates God's deliverance during Ahaz, Jehoshaphat, or Asa, when Jerusalem was saved only by heaven's intervention.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator points out that the poet uses plain metaphor: God's irresistible power shatters the vast Assyrian army as a sudden east wind wrecks the great ships of Tarshish. The east wind symbolizes judgment, and
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva annotator observes that God destroyed His enemies through an east wind, just as He had broken the merchant ships of Tarshish. The point is direct divine agency: the same natural force that shatters seagoing vessels becomes the instrument of visible judgment on the wicked.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill reads this line in three ways: as a simile for the dread seizing the kings of the earth, as a figure of the destruction of antichristian rulers and states, and as the loss of all riches brought by sea, which he connects to the lament of merchants in Revelation.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB points out that "ships of Tarshish" represent the most valuable distant trade of the time. The phrase ultimately illustrates God's control over all material agencies, regardless of whether the passage refers to their literal destruction or not.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch reads "sides of the north" in this psalm as a literal topographical description of the Temple hill, not a mythological reference to a pagan mountain of the gods. They argue that the phrase designates the northern angle of ancient Jerusalem where Mount Moriah stood.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange interprets "the sides of the north" not as the legendary mountain of the gods or the north part of Jerusalem, but as the northeastern corner of Mount Zion itself, the location of the Temple. This precise geographical detail, he argues, gives the city its described beauty and identifies the place of God's special presence.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry observes that the psalmist frames all praise of Jerusalem within praise of God, opening and closing with God's greatness and goodness. The city's true honor is that heaven's King chose it as his own, a point Christ himself confirms by calling it the city of the great King.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley compares God's sudden destruction of Jerusalem's enemies to a fierce east wind that violently shatters ships at sea. The same force that wrecks vessels God turned against those raging foes, breaking them as suddenly and completely as a storm breaks a fleet.