Psalms 104

Listen to Psalms 104

1 ¹Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, you are ²very great! ³You are clothed with splendor and majesty,

2 covering yourself with light as with a garment, ⁴stretching out the heavens ⁵like a tent.

3 He ⁶lays the beams of his ⁷chambers on the waters; he makes ⁸the clouds his chariot; he rides on ⁹the wings of the wind;

4 he ¹⁰makes his messengers winds, his ¹¹ministers ¹²a flaming fire.

5 He ¹³set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved.

6 You ¹⁴covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.

7 At ¹⁵your rebuke they fled; at ¹⁶the sound of your thunder they ¹⁷took to flight.

8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you ¹⁸appointed for them.

9 You set ¹⁹a boundary that they may not pass, so that they ²⁰might not again cover the earth.

10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills;

11 they ²¹give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches.

13 ²²From your lofty abode you ²³water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

14 You cause ²⁴the grass to grow for the livestock and ²⁵plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth ²⁶food from the earth

15 and ²⁷wine to gladden the heart of man, ²⁸oil to make his face shine and bread to ²⁹strengthen man's heart.

16 The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly, ³⁰the cedars of Lebanon ³¹that he planted.

17 In them the birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees.

18 The high mountains are for ³²the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for ³³the rock badgers.

19 He made the moon to mark the ³⁴seasons;^[a] the sun knows its time for setting.

20 ³⁵You make darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep about.

21 ³⁶The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.

22 When the sun rises, they steal away and lie down in their ³⁷dens.

23 ³⁸Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening.

24 O LORD, how manifold are your works! In ³⁹wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

25 Here is the sea, great and wide, ⁴⁰which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great.

26 There go the ships, and ⁴¹Leviathan, which you formed to ⁴²play in it.^[b]

27 These ⁴³all look to you, to ⁴⁴give them their food in due season.

28 When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you ⁴⁵open your hand, they are filled with good things.

29 When you ⁴⁶hide your face, they are ⁴⁷dismayed; when you ⁴⁸take away their breath, they die and ⁴⁹return to their dust.

30 When you ⁵⁰send forth your Spirit,^[c] they are created, and you ⁵¹renew the face of the ground.

31 May the glory of the LORD ⁵²endure forever; may the LORD ⁵³rejoice in his works,

32 who looks on the earth and it ⁵⁴trembles, who ⁵⁵touches the mountains and they smoke!

33 I will sing to the LORD ⁵⁶as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

34 May my ⁵⁷meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD.

35 Let ⁵⁸sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! ⁵⁹Bless the LORD, O my soul! ⁶⁰Praise the LORD!

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Psalms 104 Commentary

Chapter 104

God's majesty in the heavens, The creation of the sea, and the dry land. (1-9) His provision for all creatures. (10-18) The regular course of day and night, and God's sovereign power over all the creatures. (19-30) A resolution to continue praising God. (31-35)

Verses 1-9 Every object we behold calls on us to bless and praise the Lord, who is great. His eternal power and Godhead are clearly shown by the things which he hath made. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. The Lord Jesus, the Son of his love, is the Light of the world.

Verses 10-18 When we reflect upon the provision made for all creatures, we should also notice the natural worship they render to God. Yet man, forgetful ungrateful man, enjoys the largest measure of his Creator's kindness. the earth, varying in different lands. Nor let us forget spiritual blessings; the fruitfulness of the church through grace, the bread of everlasting life, the cup of salvation, and the oil of gladness. Does God provide for the inferior creatures, and will he not be a refuge to his people?

Verses 19-30 We are to praise and magnify God for the constant succession of day and night. And see how those are like to the wild beasts, who wait for the twilight, and have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Does God listen to the language of mere nature, even in ravenous creatures, and shall he not much more interpret favourably the language of grace in his own people, though weak and broken groanings which cannot be uttered? There is the work of every day, which is to be done in its day, which man must apply to every morning, and which he must continue in till evening; it will be time enough to rest when the night comes, in which no man can work. The psalmist wonders at the works of God. The works of art, the more closely they are looked upon, the more rough they appear; the works of nature appear more fine and exact. They are all made in wisdom, for they all answer the end they were designed to serve. Every spring is an emblem of the resurrection, when a new world rises, as it were, out of the ruins of the old one. But man alone lives beyond death. When the Lord takes away his breath, his soul enters on another state, and his body will be raised, either to glory or to misery. May the Lord send forth his Spirit, and new-create our souls to holiness.

Verses 31-35 Man's glory is fading; God's glory is everlasting: creatures change, but with the Creator there is no variableness. And if mediation on the glories of creation be so sweet to the soul, what greater glory appears to the enlightened mind, when contemplating the great work of redemption! There alone can a sinner perceive ground of confidence and joy in God. While he with pleasure upholds all, governs all, and rejoices in all his works, let our souls, touched by his grace, meditate on and praise him.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 60

1. Ps. 103:1, 2, 22
2. See 2 Samuel 7:22
3. Psalms 93:1; Job 40:10; [Job 37:22]
4. See Job 9:8
5. Isaiah 40:22
6. Amos 9:6
7. ver. 13
8. Isaiah 19:1
9. Psalms 18:10; 2 Samuel 22:11
10. Cited Hebrews 1:7; [Psalms 148:8]
11. Psalms 103:21
12. [2 Kings 1:10; 2 Kings 2:11]
13. Psalms 24:2; Psalms 89:11; Psalms 136:6; See Job 38:4
14. Genesis 7:19
15. Psalms 18:15; [Psalms 106:9; Genesis 1:9; Genesis 8:1, 5; Matthew 8:26]
16. Psalms 77:18
17. Psalms 48:5
18. [Job 38:8, 10, 11]
19. See Job 26:10
20. See Genesis 9:11-16
21. [ver. 13]
22. ver. 3
23. [Psalms 65:9; Psalms 147:8; Deuteronomy 11:11; Job 5:10; Jeremiah 10:13; Jeremiah 14:22]
24. Psalms 147:8, 9
25. Gen. 1:11, 29, 30; Genesis 3:18; Genesis 9:3
26. Job 28:5; [Psalms 136:25; Psalms 147:9]
27. Judges 9:13; Ecclesiastes 10:19; [Proverbs 31:6, 7]
28. [Psalms 23:5; Judges 9:9]
29. [Genesis 18:5]
30. See Judges 9:15
31. [Numbers 24:6]
32. See Job 39:1
33. Leviticus 11:5; Proverbs 30:26
34. Genesis 1:14; Leviticus 23:4
35. Isaiah 45:7
36. Job 38:39
37. Job 37:8
38. [Genesis 3:19]
39. Proverbs 3:19
40. Psalms 69:34
41. See Job 41:1
42. [Job 40:20]
43. Psalms 145:15
44. [ver. 14]; See Job 36:31
45. Psalms 145:16
46. Psalms 30:7; [Deuteronomy 31:17]
47. Job 23:15
48. See Job 34:14
49. See Job 10:9
50. See Job 33:4
51. [Revelation 21:5]
52. Psalms 72:17
53. [Genesis 1:31; Proverbs 8:31]
54. [Habakkuk 3:10]
55. Psalms 144:5; Exodus 19:18; [Amos 9:5]
56. See Psalms 63:4
57. Job 15:4
58. See Psalms 37:38
59. See ver. 1
60. Psalms 105:45; Psalms 106:48; Psalms 113:9; Psalms 150:6

Footnotes 3

[a]. Or the appointed times (compare Genesis 1:14)
[b]. Or you formed to play with
[c]. Or breath

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 104

This psalm, though without a title, was probably written by David, since it begins and ends as the former does, as Aben Ezra observes; and to him the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, ascribe it. The inscription of the Syriac version is,

``a psalm of David, when he went to worship before the ark of the Lord with the priests; and as to us, it teaches us confession and prayer; and intimates to us the constitution of the beginning of the creatures; and declares some things concerning the angels.''

Some copies of the Septuagint version have it,

``a psalm of David concerning the constitution of the world;''

which indeed is the subject matter of it; for it treats of the creation of all things, of the heavens and the earth, and of all creatures in them; and of the providence of God in taking care of them. Christ is the divine Person addressed and described throughout the whole, as appears from the quotation of Ps 104:5 and the application of it to him in Heb 1:7.

\\Bless the Lord, O my soul\\ As for the blessings of grace and mercy expressed in the preceding psalm, so on account of the works of creation and providence, enumerated in this; in which Christ has an equal concern, as in the former.

\\O Lord my God, thou art very great\\; the Messiah, who is Jehovah our righteousness, Lord of all, truly God, and the God of his people; see Joh 20:28 and who is great, and very great, in his divine Person, being the great God, and our Saviour; great in all his works of creation, providence, and redemption; great in all his offices of Prophet, Priest, and King; a Saviour, and a great one; the great Shepherd of the Sheep; the Man, Jehovah's Fellow.

\\Thou art clothed with honour and majesty\\; being the brightness of his Father's glory, and having on him the glory of the only begotten of the Father, and a natural majesty in him as the Son of God and King of the whole universe; and, as Mediator, he has honour and majesty laid upon him by his Father, Ps 21:5, he has all the regalia and ensigns of royal majesty; he is on a throne, high and lifted up, even the same with his divine Father; he has a crown of glory on his head, he is crowned with glory and honour; he has a sceptre of righteousness in his hand, and is arrayed in robes of majesty; and, as thus situated, is to look upon like a jasper and sardine stone; or as if he was covered with sparkling gems and precious stones, Re 4:2,3 and, having all power in heaven and earth, over angels and men, honour and glory given him by both. 23531-950516-0908-Ps104.2

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible