Tehillim 107:26

26 They [the galim] mount up to Shomayim, they went down again to the tehomot (depths); their nefesh melted in ra’ah (peril, trouble).

Tehillim 107:26 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 107:26

They mount up to the heaven
The waves which are lifted up by the stormy wind, and the ships which are upon them, and the men in them.

They go down again to the depths:
one while they seem to reach the skies, and presently they are down, as it were, in the bottom of the sea, and are threatened to be buried in the midst of it; distress at sea is described in much the same language by Virgil and Ovid ^F13.

Their soul is melted because of trouble;
because of the danger of being cast away; so it was with Jonah's mariner's, and with the disciples in the storm; sea roaring, and men's hearts failing for fear, are joined together in ( Luke 21:25 Luke 21:26 )

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 "Tollimur in coelum", Virgil. Aeneid 3. prope finem. "Coelumque aequare videtur pontus". Ovid. Metamorph. l. 12. Fab. 10.

Tehillim 107:26 In-Context

24 These have seen the ma’asei Hashem, and His nifla’ot (wonders) in the deep.

25 For He commandeth, and raiseth up a ruach sa’arah (stormy wind), which lifteth up the galim (waves) thereof.

26 They [the galim] mount up to Shomayim, they went down again to the tehomot (depths); their nefesh melted in ra’ah (peril, trouble).

27 They reeled and staggered like a shikkor, and were at their wit’s end.

28 Then they cried unto Hashem in their tzoros, and He brought them out of their distresses.