He Gathereth the Waters... as an Heap
A. Maclaren, D. D. Psalm 33:6-8 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.… The old versions and interpreters read ' as in a bottle" for "as an heap," vocalizing the text differently from the present pointing; but there seems to be an allusion to the wall of waters at the passage of the Red Sea, the same word being used in Miriam's song; with "depths" in the next clause, there as here (Exodus 15:8). What is meant, however, here, is the separation of land and water at first, and possibly the continuance of the same power keeping them still apart, since the verbs in ver. 7 are participles, which imply continued action. The image of "an heap" is probably due to the same optical delusion which has coined the expression "the high seas," since, to an eye looking seawards from the beach, the level waters seem to rise as they recede; or it may merely express the gathering together in a mass. Away out there, in that ocean of which the Hebrews knew so little, were unplumbed depths in which, as in vast storehouses, the abundance of the sea was shut up, and the ever-present Word which made them at first was to them instead of bolts and bars. Parallel Verses KJV: By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. WEB: By Yahweh's word, the heavens were made; all their army by the breath of his mouth.