Psalms 104

The LORD'S Care over All His Works.

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

2 Covering Yourself with ³light as with a cloak, ⁴Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.

3 He ⁵lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters; He makes the ⁶clouds His chariot; He walks upon the ⁷wings of the wind;

4 He makes ⁸the winds His messengers, Flaming ⁹fire His ministers.

5 He ¹⁰established the earth upon its foundations, So that it will not totter forever and ever.

6 You ¹¹covered it with the deep as with a garment; The waters were standing above the mountains.

7 At Your ¹²rebuke they fled, At the ¹³sound of Your thunder they hurried away.

8 The mountains rose; the valleys sank down To the ¹⁴place which You established for them.

9 You set a ¹⁵boundary that they may not pass over, So that they will not return to cover the earth.

10 He sends forth ¹⁶springs in the valleys; They flow between the mountains;

11 They ¹⁷give drink to every beast of the field; The ¹⁸wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12 Beside them the birds of the heavens ¹⁹dwell; They lift up their voices among * the branches.

13 He ²⁰waters the mountains from His upper chambers; ²¹The earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works.

14 He causes the ²²grass to grow for the cattle, And ²³vegetation for the labor of man, So that he may bring forth food ²⁴from the earth,

15 And ²⁵wine which makes man's heart glad, ²⁶So that he may make his face glisten with oil, And food which ²⁷sustains man's heart.

16 The trees of the LORD drink their fill, The cedars of Lebanon which He planted,

17 Where * the ²⁸birds build their nests, And the ²⁹stork, whose home is the fir trees.

18 The high mountains are for the ³⁰wild goats; The ³¹cliffs are a refuge for the ³²shephanim.

19 He made the moon ³³for the seasons; The ³⁴sun knows the place of its setting.

20 You ³⁵appoint darkness and it becomes night, In which all the ³⁶beasts of the forest prowl about.

21 The ³⁷young lions roar after their prey And ³⁸seek their food from God.

22 When the sun rises they withdraw And lie down in their ³⁹dens.

23 Man goes forth to ⁴⁰his work And to his labor until evening.

24 O LORD, how ⁴¹many are Your works! In ⁴²wisdom You have made them all; The ⁴³earth is full of Your possessions.

25 There is the ⁴⁴sea, great and broad, In which are swarms without number, Animals both small and great.

26 There the ⁴⁵ships move along, And ⁴⁶Leviathan, which You have formed to sport in it.

27 They all ⁴⁷wait for You To ⁴⁸give them their food in due season.

28 You give to them, they gather it up; You ⁴⁹open Your hand, they are satisfied with good.

29 You ⁵⁰hide Your face, they are dismayed; You ⁵¹take away their spirit, they expire And ⁵²return to their dust.

30 You send forth Your ⁵³Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the ground.

31 Let the ⁵⁴glory of the LORD endure forever; Let the LORD ⁵⁵be glad in His works;

32 He ⁵⁶looks at the earth, and it ⁵⁷trembles; He ⁵⁸touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to the LORD ⁵⁹as long as I live; I will ⁶⁰sing praise to my God while I have my being.

34 Let my ⁶¹meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall ⁶²be glad in the LORD.

35 Let sinners be ⁶³consumed from the earth And let the ⁶⁴wicked be no more. ⁶⁵Bless the LORD, O my soul. ⁶⁶Praise the LORD!

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.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 103:22
• 2. Psalms 93:1
• 3. Daniel 7:9
• 4. Isaiah 40:22
• 5. Amos 9:6
• 6. Isaiah 19:1
• 7. Psalms 18:10
• 8. Psalms 148:8; Hebrews 1:7
• 9. 2 Kings 2:11; 2 Kings 6:17
• 10. Job 38:4; Psalms 24:2
• 11. Genesis 1:2
• 12. Psalms 18:15; Psalms 106:9; Isaiah 50:2
• 13. Psalms 29:3; Psalms 77:18
• 14. Psalms 33:7
• 15. Job 38:10, 11; Jeremiah 5:22
• 16. Psalms 107:35; Isaiah 41:18
• 17. Psalms 104:13
• 18. Job 39:5
• 19. Matthew 8:20
• 20. Psalms 65:9; Psalms 147:8
• 21. Jeremiah 10:13
• 22. Job 38:27; Psalms 147:8
• 23. Genesis 1:29
• 24. Job 28:5
• 25. Judges 9:13; Proverbs 31:6; Ecclesiastes 10:19
• 26. Psalms 23:5; Psalms 92:10; Psalms 141:5; Luke 7:46
• 27. Genesis 18:5; Judges 19:5, 8
• 28. Psalms 104:12
• 29. Leviticus 11:19
• 30. Job 39:1
• 31. Proverbs 30:26
• 32. Leviticus 11:5
• 33. Genesis 1:14
• 34. Psalms 19:6
• 35. Psalms 74:16; Isaiah 45:7
• 36. Psalms 50:10; Isaiah 56:9; Micah 5:8
• 37. Job 38:39
• 38. Psalms 145:15; Joel 1:20
• 39. Job 37:8
• 40. Genesis 3:19
• 41. Psalms 40:5
• 42. Psalms 136:5; Proverbs 3:19; Jeremiah 10:12; Jeremiah 51:15
• 43. Psalms 65:9
• 44. Psalms 8:8; Psalms 69:34
• 45. Psalms 107:23; Ezekiel 27:9
• 46. Job 41:1; Psalms 74:14; Isaiah 27:1
• 47. Psalms 145:15
• 48. Job 36:31; Job 38:41; Psalms 136:25; Psalms 147:9
• 49. Psalms 145:16
• 50. Deuteronomy 31:17; Psalms 30:7
• 51. Job 34:14, 15; Psalms 146:4; Ecclesiastes 12:7
• 52. Genesis 3:19; Job 10:9; Psalms 90:3
• 53. Job 33:4; Ezekiel 37:9
• 54. Psalms 86:12; Psalms 111:10
• 55. Genesis 1:31
• 56. Judges 5:5; Psalms 97:4, 5; Psalms 114:7
• 57. Habakkuk 3:10
• 58. Exodus 19:18; Psalms 144:5
• 59. Psalms 63:4
• 60. Psalms 146:2
• 61. Psalms 19:14
• 62. Psalms 9:2
• 63. Psalms 59:13
• 64. Psalms 37:10
• 65. Psalms 104:1
• 66. Psalms 105:45; Psalms 106:48

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "The one who"
• [b]. Lit "The one who"
• [c]. Lit "The one who"
• [d]. Lit "Who"
• [e]. Or "His angels, spirits"
• [f]. Or "His ministers flames of fire"
• [g]. Or "move out of place"
• [h]. Lit "The one who sends"
• [i]. Or "Over," Above
• [j]. Lit "give forth"
• [k]. Lit "Who"
• [l]. Lit "Who"
• [m]. Or "beasts"
• [n]. Or "cultivation by" or "service of"
• [o]. Or "He"
• [p]. Lit "bread"
• [q]. Lit "bread"
• [r]. Lit "are satisfied"
• [s]. Or "cypress"
• [t]. Small, shy, furry animals "(Hyrax syriacus") found in the peninsula of the Sinai, northern Israel, and the region round the Dead Sea; KJV "coney," orig NASB "rock badgers"
• [u]. Lit "creep"
• [v]. Lit "And to seek"
• [w]. Or "With"
• [x]. Or "creatures"
• [y]. Or "This"
• [z]. Or "broad of dimensions" (lit "hands")
• [aa]. Or "a sea monster"
• [ab]. Lit "its appointed time"
• [ac]. Or "breath"
• [ad]. Or "breath"
• [ae]. Lit "The one who"
• [af]. Or "Let me sing"
• [ag]. Lit "in my lifetime"
• [ah]. Or "Let me sing"
• [ai]. Lit "while I still am"
• [aj]. Or "Hallelujah!"
• [ak]. Heb YAH

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