Psalms 104:1-23

God the Creator

1 My soul, praise the Lord! Lord my God, You are very great; You are clothed with majesty and splendor.

2 He wraps Himself in light as if it were a robe, spreading out the sky like a canopy,

3 laying the beams of His palace on the waters [above],^[a] making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind,

4 and making the winds His messengers,^[b] flames of fire His servants.^[c]

5 He established the earth on its foundations; it will never be shaken.^[d]

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

7 At Your rebuke the waters fled; at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away-

8 mountains rose and valleys sank^[e]- to the place You established for them.

9 You set a boundary they cannot cross; they will never cover the earth again.^[f]

10 He causes the springs to gush into the valleys; they flow between the mountains.

11 They supply water for every wild beast; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12 The birds of the sky live beside [the springs]; they sing among the foliage.

13 He waters the mountains from His palace; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of Your labor.

14 He causes grass to grow for the livestock and [provides] crops for man to cultivate, producing food from the earth,

15 wine that makes man's heart glad- making his face shine with oil- and bread that sustains man's heart.

16 The trees of the Lord flourish,^[g] the cedars of Lebanon that He planted.

17 There the birds make their nests; the stork makes its home in the pine trees.

18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the cliffs are a refuge for hyraxes.

19 He made the moon to mark the^[h] seasons;^[i] the sun knows when to set.

20 You bring darkness, and it becomes night, when all the forest animals stir.

21 The young lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.

22 The sun rises; they go back and lie down in their dens.

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

Psalms 104:1-23 Meaning and Commentary

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

Footnotes

• [a]. Gn 1:6-7
• [b]. Or angels
• [c]. Heb 1:7
• [d]. Ps 93:1; 96:10
• [e]. Or away. They flowed over the mountains and went down valleys
• [f]. Gn 1:9-10
• [g]. Lit are satisfied
• [h]. Lit moon for
• [i]. Gn 1:14-18