Psalms 18:15

(15) The channels.—The description of the storm ends with the fury of the wind and the effects of the tempest on the earth’s surface. Comp. Psalms 29:0, and Milton:—

“Either tropic now

‘Gan thunder and both ends of heaven the clouds,From many a horrid rift abortive pour’dFierce rain with lightning mix’d, water with fire,In ruin reconciled; nor slept the windsWithin their stony caves, but rush’d abroadFrom the four hinges of the world and fellOn the vex’d wilderness.”

—Par. Reg. iv. 409416.

Here, to suit the poet’s purpose (see next verse), the rage of the tempest is made to spend itself on the water-floods. The “channels” are either torrent beds (Isaiah 8:7; Psalms 42:1; Job 6:15), or as in Samuel (where for “waters” the text has “sea”) the depths of ocean. (Comp. Jonah 2:5.)