Psalm 104

How Many Are Your Works, O Yahweh!

¹Bless Yahweh, O my soul!

O Yahweh my God, You are very great;

You are clothed with splendor and majesty.

• PS 104:1[NOTE]THE HYMN TO THE ATEN. An Egyptian hymn from Akhenaten's day has lines that sound a lot like this psalm. See the Field Notes page after this psalm.

²He wraps Himself in light as with a garment;

He stretches out the heavens like a tent,

³laying the beams of His chambers

in the waters above,

making the clouds His chariot,

walking on the wings of the wind.

⁴He makes the winds His messengers,

flames of fire His servants.

• PS 104:4[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → HEB 1:7
• PS 104:4[NOTE]WINDS AND FLAMES. Hebrews 1:7 quotes this from the Greek: He makes His angels winds.

⁵He set the earth on its foundations,

never to be moved.

⁶You covered it with the deep like a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

⁷At Your rebuke the waters fled;

at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away—

⁸the mountains rose and the valleys sank

to the place You assigned for them—

⁹You set a boundary they cannot cross,

that they may never again cover the earth.

¹⁰He sends forth springs in the valleys;

they flow between the mountains.

¹¹They give drink to every beast of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

¹²The birds of the air nest beside the springs;

they sing among the branches.

¹³He waters the mountains from His chambers;

the earth is satisfied by the fruit of His works.

¹⁴He makes the grass grow for the livestock

and provides crops for man to cultivate,

bringing forth food from the earth:

¹⁵wine that gladdens the heart of man,

oil that makes his face to shine,

and bread that sustains his heart.

¹⁶The trees of Yahweh have their fill,

the cedars of Lebanon that He planted,

¹⁷where the birds build their nests;

the stork makes her home in the cypresses.

¹⁸The high mountains are for the wild goats,

the cliffs a refuge for the rock badgers.

¹⁹He made the moon to mark the seasons;

the sun knows when to set.

²⁰You bring darkness, and it becomes night,

when all the beasts of the forest prowl.

²¹The young lions roar for their prey

and seek their food from God.

²²The sun rises, and they withdraw;

they lie down in their dens.

²³Man goes forth to his work

and to his labor until evening.

²⁴How many are Your works, O Yahweh!

In wisdom You have made them all;

the earth is full of Your creatures.

• PS 104:24[ARCHAEOLOGY]An Egyptian hymn to the sun disk from Akhenaten's day, about 1340 BC, has lines like Psalm 104, see The Hymn to the Aten Field Notes page

²⁵Here is the sea, vast and wide,

teeming with creatures beyond number,

living things both great and small.

²⁶There the ships pass,

and Leviathan, which You formed to frolic there.

• PS 104:26[NOTE]LEVIATHAN again, this time playing in the sea like a pet. See Lotan in the Ugarit Tablets in Job.

²⁷All creatures look to You

to give them their food in due season.

²⁸When You give it to them,

they gather it up;

when You open Your hand,

they are satisfied with good things.

²⁹When You hide Your face,

they are terrified;

when You take away their breath,

they die and return to dust.

³⁰When You send Your Spirit,

they are created,

and You renew

the face of the earth.

³¹May the glory of Yahweh endure forever;

may Yahweh rejoice in His works.

³²He looks on the earth,

and it trembles;

He touches the mountains,

and they smolder.

³³I will sing to Yahweh all my life;

I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

³⁴May my meditation be pleasing to Him,

for I rejoice in Yahweh.

³⁵May sinners vanish from the earth

and the wicked be no more.

Bless Yahweh, O my soul.

Hallelujah!