Psalm 104:1-35

  • Praising God for the wonders of creation

    • Earth to remain forever (5)

    • Wine and bread for mortal man (15)

    • “How many your works are!” (24)

    • ‘When spirit is taken away, they die’ (29)

104  Let me* praise Jehovah.+ O Jehovah my God, you are very great.+ With majesty* and splendor you are clothed.+   You are wrapped in light+ as with a garment;You stretch out the heavens like a tent cloth.+   He lays beams of his upper rooms in the waters above,*+Making the clouds his chariot,+Moving on the wings of the wind.+   He makes his angels spirits,His ministers a consuming fire.+   He has established the earth on its foundations;+It will not be moved from its place* forever and ever.+   You covered it with deep waters as with a garment.+ The waters stood above the mountains.   At your rebuke they fled;+At the sound of your thunder they ran away in panic   —Mountains ascended+ and valleys descended—To the place you established for them.   You set a boundary that they should not pass,+That they should never again cover the earth. 10  He sends springs into the valleys;*Between the mountains they flow. 11  They provide water for all the wild beasts of the field;The wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12  Above them roost the birds of the sky;They sing among the thick foliage. 13  He is watering the mountains from his upper rooms.+ With the fruitage of your works the earth is satisfied.+ 14  He is making grass grow for the cattleAnd vegetation for mankind’s use,+To grow food from the land 15  And wine that makes man’s heart rejoice,+Oil that makes the face shine,And bread that sustains the heart of mortal man.+ 16  The trees of Jehovah are satisfied,The cedars of Lebʹa·non that he planted, 17  Where the birds make nests. The home of the stork+ is in the juniper trees. 18  The high mountains are for the mountain goats;+The crags are a refuge for the rock badgers.+ 19  He has made the moon to mark the appointed times;The sun well knows when to set.+ 20  You bring darkness, and night falls,+When all the wild animals of the forest roam about. 21  The young lions* roar for their prey+And seek their food from God.+ 22  When the sun rises,They withdraw and lie down in their dens. 23  Man goes to his work,And he labors until evening. 24  How many your works are, O Jehovah!+ You have made all of them in wisdom.+ The earth is full of what you have made. 25  There is the sea, so great and wide,Teeming with countless living things, both small and great.+ 26  There the ships travel,And Le·viʹa·than,*+ which you formed to play in it. 27  All of them wait for youTo give them their food in its season.+ 28  What you give them, they gather.+ When you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.+ 29  When you hide your face, they are disturbed. If you take away their spirit, they die and return to the dust.+ 30  If you send out your spirit, they are created,+And you renew the surface of the ground. 31  The glory of Jehovah will last forever. Jehovah will rejoice in his works.+ 32  He looks at the earth, and it trembles;He touches the mountains, and they smoke.+ 33  I will sing to Jehovah+ throughout my life;I will sing praises* to my God as long as I live.+ 34  Let my thoughts be pleasing to him.* I will rejoice in Jehovah. 35  The sinners will vanish from the earth,And the wicked will no longer exist.+ Let me* praise Jehovah. Praise Jah!*

Footnotes

Or “dignity.”
Or “my soul.”
Lit., “in the waters.”
Or “will not totter.”
Or “wadis.”
Or “maned young lions.”
Or “make music.”
Or possibly, “Let my meditation about him be pleasurable.”
Or “my soul.”
Or “Hallelujah!” “Jah” is a shortened form of the name Jehovah.