Waterspouts

Waterspouts (Hebrew tsinnor) appears in Psalm 42:7: "Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me." The Revised Version margin renders tsinnor as "cataracts," and most modern translations follow this sense: the roaring of waterfalls or floodgates of heaven. The psalmist, apparently in exile north of the Jordan near the headwaters of the river and the roar of the waters from Mount Hermon (mentioned in verse 6), uses the overwhelming sound and force of cascading water as an image for the floods of divine affliction that have submerged him. The same Hebrew word may be connected to David's capture of Jerusalem through the water shaft or conduit (tsinnor) mentioned in 2 Samuel 5:8, though that usage is debated. The verse's powerful image of "deep calling to deep" became a locus classicus in Christian mystical and devotional writing for describing the soul's experience of overwhelming suffering and divine encounter.