In verse 15 the psalmist uses some degree of heightening in line b with foundations of the world. However, the degree is slight in the first pair. By contrast, in the second pair the movement from thy rebuke to the blast of the breath of thy nostrils is a vivid rhetorical leap, which Good News Translation attempts with “roared at them in anger.”

The language used in this verse recalls the parting of the waters of the Red Sea (that is, the Sea of Reeds; see comments at 106.7) when the Israelites fled from Egypt (see Exo 15.8; Psa 106.9). The ocean bed is spoken of in terms of the streams under the ocean (channels of the sea), which were believed to supply the ocean with water. The furious rage of Yahweh is pictured as the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. But this can be an explicit reference to the strong wind which parted the waters of the sea, and some translations interpret it this way (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “the strong breath that he blew”).

In languages which cannot use the passive voice, channels of the sea were seen and foundations … were laid bare, it may be necessary to say, for example, “He made the waters of the sea dry up” and “He made the bottom of the earth bare.” Foundations of the world may be expressed as “the ground on which the earth stands,” or in some languages “the legs of the earth.” See also “founded it” (the world) in 24.2.

Good News Translation has made the rebuke and the raging breath to be directed against the enemies; but they can be understood as directed at the ocean bed and the earth’s foundations. Toombs sees in verse 15 the picture of Yahweh cleaving his way through the sea and the foundations of the earth down into Sheol, from where he draws forth the psalmist (verse 16).

Line c at thy rebuke … stands as a temporal clause and chronologically precedes the actions in lines a and b. For this reason it may be more meaningful in some languages to place the final two lines at the beginning. As in 9.5 the English word rebuke is too mild for the action described. Something like “roaring” (New Jerusalem Bible) or “mighty roaring” (New Jerusalem Bible) is better.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .