Psalms 104:1-14

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

Psalms 104:1-14 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

Cross References

• 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]