Psalms 104

Praise the LORD, my soul. LORD my God, you are very great. You are dressed in splendor and majesty.

1Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.

NoteWhere the King James prints LORD in capital letters, the Hebrew has the personal name of Israel's God, four consonants usually written YHWH. Jewish readers said "the Lord" aloud in its place, and English Bibles have followed that custom ever since. "Bless" here does not mean to grant a favor; said of God by a person, the Hebrew verb means to kneel before, honor, praise. "My soul" in Hebrew (nephesh) means the whole living self, not an inner part separable from the body, closer to "my whole being" than to the modern idea of a soul.

2He wraps himself in light the way a person wraps up in a robe. He spreads out the heavens like a tent.

2Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:

NoteThe King James "curtain" and the rendering's "tent" translate a word for the cloth of a tent. The picture is of the sky as a great fabric pulled taut over the earth, the way a nomad stretches goat-hair panels over poles.

3He lays the beams of his upper rooms on the waters above. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind.

3Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:

NoteAncient Hebrew writers pictured a body of water above the sky as well as below the earth. Here God's own dwelling is built like an upper story, with its floor beams sunk into that upper water. The chariot and the "wings of the wind" belong to a stock picture, found across the ancient Near East, of a god riding the storm.

4He makes the winds his messengers, and flames of fire his servants.

4Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:

NoteThe Hebrew word ruach means wind, breath, and spirit all at once, and the word translated "angels" in the King James simply means "messengers." So the line can be read either way: God makes the winds into his messengers, or he makes his messengers into winds. Ancient readers took it both ways.

5He set the earth on its foundations, so it will never be moved.

5Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.

Note"Foundations" is builders' language. The earth is imagined as a structure set on footings, the way a house is, so that it does not shift.

6You covered the earth with the deep waters like a piece of clothing. The waters stood higher than the mountains.

6Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.

Note"The deep" translates tehom, the standard Hebrew word for the vast primeval sea, the same word used in the opening lines of Genesis. It names the water itself, not a depth or a place.

7At your sharp word the waters ran away. At the sound of your thunder they rushed off.

7At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.

8They went up over the mountains and down into the valleys, to the place you had set for them.

8They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.

NoteThe Hebrew of this verse is genuinely unclear, and translators split. Either the waters go up over the mountains and down into the valleys as they drain away, or the mountains themselves rise and the valleys sink as the water retreats. Both readings are old and both are defensible.

9You set a border they cannot cross, so they will never cover the earth again.

9Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.

10He sends springs of water into the valleys, and they flow between the hills.

10He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.

11They give a drink to every wild animal. The wild donkeys drink until their thirst is gone.

11They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.

12The birds of the sky nest beside those waters. They sing among the branches.

12By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.

13He waters the hills from his rooms above. The earth has all it needs from the fruit of what you do.

13He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.

14He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to work and use, so that food comes up out of the ground.

14He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;

15He brings out wine that makes a person's heart glad, oil that makes a face shine, and bread that keeps a person strong.

15And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.

NoteOlive oil was rubbed on the skin and hair after washing, in the dry Mediterranean climate, both to protect the skin and as a mark of being well and at ease. A shining face meant a person who was doing well, not one who was sweating. Wine, oil and bread were the three staple products of the land.

16The LORD's trees have all the water they need, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

16The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;

NoteThe cedars of Lebanon were enormous conifers from the mountains north of Israel, the most prized timber in the region and used for palaces and temples. They were the standard example of a huge tree, and they grow on rainfall alone, no one waters them, which is the point being made.

17That is where the birds build their nests. The stork makes her home in the cypress trees.

17Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.

NoteThe tree named in Hebrew here is a berosh, a conifer of some kind; whether it was a cypress, a juniper or a fir is not certain, which is why translations differ. The King James says "fir."

18The high hills are a safe place for the wild goats, and the rocks are a safe place for the rock badgers.

18The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.

NoteThe animal the King James calls a "cony" is the rock hyrax, a stout, rabbit-sized creature that lives in colonies among rock crevices in Israel and is unrelated to rabbits. "Cony" was the ordinary English word for a rabbit in 1611.

19He made the moon to mark the seasons. The sun knows when to go down.

19He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "seasons" means appointed times, the fixed points of the calendar, including the religious festivals. Israel counted months by the moon, so the moon's phases were what told people the date.

20You bring on the darkness, and it is night, and then all the animals of the forest come out.

20Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.

21The young lions roar for the animals they hunt, looking to God for their food.

21The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.

22The sun comes up, and they slip away and lie down in their dens.

22The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens.

23Then people go out to their work, and they work until evening.

23Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.

24LORD, how many things you have made! You made them all with wisdom. The earth is full of the living things you own.

24O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

NoteThe Hebrew word here can mean both "creatures" and "possessions"; it comes from a verb meaning to acquire or create. The line says the earth is full of what God has made and so holds title to.

25There is the sea, huge and wide, full of creatures too many to count, living things both small and large.

25So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.

26The ships sail there, and there is Leviathan, which you made to play in the water.

26There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.

NoteLeviathan is a great sea creature named elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible as a monster of the deep, sometimes many-headed, that God subdues. Here the picture is deliberately mild: the terror of the sea is a thing God made, splashing about in its pool.

27All of them look to you to give them their food at the right time.

27These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.

28When you give it to them, they gather it up. When you open your hand, they have plenty of good things.

28That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.

29When you hide your face, they are terrified. When you take away their breath, they die and go back to the dust.

29Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.

Note"Hiding the face" is a standard Hebrew idiom for withdrawing attention and favor, turning away from someone rather than covering one's features. "Breath" is again ruach, the same word as wind and spirit in verses 4 and 30, so the taking of breath here and the sending of it in the next verse are the same word.

30When you send out your Spirit, they are created, and you make the face of the earth new again.

30Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

NoteThe word translated "Spirit" is the same ruach that meant "wind" in verse 4 and "breath" in verse 29. The Hebrew does not distinguish, and translators must choose; "breath" and "spirit" and "wind" are all live options for this line.

31May the glory of the LORD last forever. May the LORD be glad in the things he has made.

31The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works.

32He looks at the earth, and it shakes. He touches the hills, and they smoke.

32He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.

NoteMountains that smoke when God touches them are drawing on the way God's arrival was described at Sinai, with the mountain smoking and shaking. It is standard poetic language for a divine appearance, not a report of a volcano.

33I will sing to the LORD as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist.

33I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

34May my thinking about him please him. I will be glad in the LORD.

34My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.

35May sinners disappear from the earth, and may the wicked be gone. Praise the LORD, my soul. Praise the LORD!

35Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.

NoteThe last two words of the King James, "Praise ye the LORD," are one Hebrew word, hallelu-yah, "praise Yah," Yah being the short form of the divine name. It is the word that came into English as "hallelujah." This is where it first appears in the book of Psalms.