Psalms 104

1 O my soul, bless God! God, my God, how great you are! beautifully, gloriously robed,

2 Dressed up in sunshine, and all heaven stretched out for your tent.

3 You built your palace on the ocean deeps, made a chariot out of clouds and took off on wind-wings.

4 You commandeered winds as messengers, appointed fire and flame as ambassadors.

5 You set earth on a firm foundation so that nothing can shake it, ever.

6 You blanketed earth with ocean, covered the mountains with deep waters;

7 Then you roared and the water ran away - your thunder crash put it to flight.

8 Mountains pushed up, valleys spread out in the places you assigned them.

9 You set boundaries between earth and sea; never again will earth be flooded.

10 You started the springs and rivers, sent them flowing among the hills.

11 All the wild animals now drink their fill, wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12 Along the riverbanks the birds build nests, ravens make their voices heard.

13 You water the mountains from your heavenly cisterns; earth is supplied with plenty of water.

14 You make grass grow for the livestock, hay for the animals that plow the ground. Oh yes, God brings grain from the land,

15 wine to make people happy, Their faces glowing with health, a people well-fed and hearty.

16 God's trees are well-watered - the Lebanon cedars he planted.

17 Birds build their nests in those trees; look - the stork at home in the treetop.

18 Mountain goats climb about the cliffs; badgers burrow among the rocks.

19 The moon keeps track of the seasons, the sun is in charge of each day.

20 When it's dark and night takes over, all the forest creatures come out.

21 The young lions roar for their prey, clamoring to God for their supper.

22 When the sun comes up, they vanish, lazily stretched out in their dens.

23 Meanwhile, men and women go out to work, busy at their jobs until evening.

24 What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations.

25 Oh, look - the deep, wide sea, brimming with fish past counting, sardines and sharks and salmon.

26 Ships plow those waters, and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them.

27 All the creatures look expectantly to you to give them their meals on time.

28 You come, and they gather around; you open your hand and they eat from it.

29 If you turned your back, they'd die in a minute - Take back your Spirit and they die, revert to original mud;

30 Send out your Spirit and they spring to life - the whole countryside in bloom and blossom.

31 The glory of God - let it last forever! Let God enjoy his creation!

32 He takes one look at earth and triggers an earthquake, points a finger at the mountains, and volcanoes erupt.

33 Oh, let me sing to God all my life long, sing hymns to my God as long as I live!

34 Oh, let my song please him; I'm so pleased to be singing to God.

35 But clear the ground of sinners - no more godless men and women! O my soul, bless God!

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.

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