The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea:
The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan; I will bring (my people) again from the depths of the sea - i:e., I will restore Israel from dangers as great as the conflict with Og of Bashan (Numbers 21:33), and as the passage through the Red Sea (Exodus 14:22). "The depths of the sea" is a proverb for imminent risks. Isaiah 49:12; Isaiah 51:11; Isaiah 51:15; Isaiah 11:11-15 confirm the English version. Hengstenberg translates, 'I will bring back (the enemies just named, Psalms 68:21; and again in the following Psalms 68:23; also Psalms 68:30) out of Basan,' where the enemy had come on their return home after a successful invasion of the Holy Land: just as David slew the Edomites, when, after invading Israel, they had reached the valley of Salt, the boundary of their own land. Maurer, taking this view, makes the sea mean the Mediterranean on the west, as Basan is on the east. Amos 9:3 then explains the language. But it is plainly Israel that is brought "from the depths of the sea" by 'the God of salvation, her God, unto whom belong the issues of death' (Psalms 68:19).