Psalms 48:7

With an east wind you shatter ¹  the large ships. ² 

You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind.

With the east wind You break the ships of Tarshish.

or like the mighty ships of Tarshish being shattered by a powerful east wind.

You smashed the ships of Tarshish with a storm out of the East.

By you the ships of Tarshish are broken as by an east wind.

as when an east wind shatters the ships of Tarshish.

As when You break the ships of Tarshish With an east wind.

With an east wind you shatter ¹  the large ships. ² 

¹ tn The switch to the imperfect, as well as the introduction of the ship metaphor, perhaps signals a change to a generalizing tone; the Lord typically shatters these large ships, symbolic of the human strength of hostile armies (see the following note on “large ships”). The verb שָׁבַר (shavar, “break”) appears in the Piel here (see Pss 29:5; 46:9). In the OT it occurs thirty-six times in the Piel, always with multiple objects (the object is either a collective singular or grammatically plural or dual form). The Piel may highlight the repetition of the pluralative action, or it may suggest an intensification of action, indicating repeated action comprising a whole, perhaps with the nuance “break again and again, break in pieces.” Another option is to understand the form as resultative: “make broken” (see IBHS 404-7 §24.3).

² tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to and from the distant western port of Tarshish. These ships, which were the best of their class, here symbolize the mere human strength of hostile armies, which are incapable of withstanding the Lord’s divine power (see Isa 2:16).