Psalms 104King James Version
Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great. A creation psalm full of vivid images: the clouds his chariot, the wind his messengers, the moon for seasons, the sun knowing his going down. O Lord, how manifold are thy works!
A creation hymn in response to Genesis 1. God is clothed with light as a garment, stretches out the heavens like a curtain, lays the beams of his chambers in the waters. He made the moon for seasons; the sun knows its going down. Young lions roar after prey; man goes to his labor. The sea is full of creeping things and Leviathan who plays in it. God hides his face: creatures are troubled. He sends his spirit: they are created. The psalmist will sing as long as he lives.
Creation is not a completed past event but an ongoing relationship: God actively maintains every creature's breath, food, and timing, and without his continuous sustaining action, all flesh would perish.
verse: "Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth." Creation is continuous, not one-time.
No superscription. Follows Psalm 103 as a companion hymn: 103 recounts God's acts toward Israel, 104 his acts in creation. Scholars note parallels with the Egyptian Hymn to the Aten and Ugaritic creation texts, all reframed under YHWH. The psalm was used in Jewish tradition at the new moon.
The psalmist in wonder; God addressed throughout as clothed-with-light creator; the animals in their ecological niches (wild asses, fowls, stork, wild goats, young lions, Leviathan); man in his daily labor; the sinners and wicked briefly noted at the close.
Psalm 104 is the closest parallel in the Psalter to Akhenaten's Hymn to the Aten from ancient Egypt, though it differs in directing worship to a personal God. The description of Leviathan playing in the sea (v26) is a deliberate reframing of the chaos monster as God's toy. The Spirit renewing the earth (v30) influenced pneumatology and Green theology.
For when the natural world has stopped being visible to you. This psalm re-opens the eyes to see the ordinary as continuously miraculous.
1Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
2Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
3Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
4Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
5Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
6Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.
7At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.
8They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.
9Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.
10He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
11They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.
12By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.
13He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
14He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;
15And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.
16The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;
17Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
18The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.
19He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
20Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.
21The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.
22The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens.
23Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.
24O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
25So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
26There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.
27These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
28That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.
29Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
30Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.
31The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works.
32He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
33I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
34My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.
35Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.