1 Bless Jehovah, my soul. Jehovah my God, thou art very great. Honor and majesty hast thou put on,
2 Wearing light as the robe, spreading heavens as the curtains;
3 Who frameth his chambers in the waters, who maketh clouds his chariot (vehicle), who walketh (or moveth) on wings of wind;
4 Making his angels spirits, his ministers a flaming fire.
5 He founded earth on its bases: it shall not be removed ever and ever.
6 With the deep as the garment thou didst cover it; upon the mountains stood waters;
7 At thy rebuke they fled, at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.
8 Mountains rose, valleys sank, unto this place thou hast founded for them:
9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass, that they return not to cover the earth.
10 He sendeth springs into the valleys: between mountains they walk:
11 They give drink to every beast of the field: wild asses quench their thirst.
12 By them birds of the heavens dwell; from among branches they give voice.
13 He watereth mountains from his chambers; from fruit of thy works is the earth satisfied.
14 He causeth to grow grass for the cattle and herb for the service of man, to bring forth bread from the earth;
15 And wine that gladdeneth man’s heart, to make [his] face shine with oil; and bread upholdeth man’s heart.
16 Satisfied are Jehovah’s trees, cedars of Lebanon which he planted,
17 Where small birds nestle: [for] stork, firs [are] her house.
18 The high mountains [are] for the wild goats, crags a refuge for the rock-badgers.
19 He made moon for seasons; sun knoweth its down-going.
20 Thou settest darkness, and it is night, wherein every beast of the forest moveth forth.
21 The young lions roar for the prey, and for seeking their food from God (El).
22 The sun ariseth, they retire and lie down in their lairs.
23 Man goeth forth unto his work and unto his service until evening.
24 How manifold are thy works, O Jehovah! in wisdom hast thou wrought them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
25 Yonder [is] the sea, great and wide, moving things there and without number, living creatures small and great:
26 There ships go, this leviathan thou hast made to play therein;
27 All of them wait on thee to give [them] their food in its season.
28 Thou givest to them, they gather; thou openest thy hand, they are satisfied with good.
29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou withdrawest their breath, they expire and return to their dust.
30 Thou sendest thy spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the ground.
31 Let Jehovah’s glory be for ever; let Jehovah rejoice in his works.
32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he toucheth mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing unto Jehovah while I live, I will sing psalms unto my God while I have being.
34 My meditation on him will be sweet; I will rejoice in Jehovah.
35 Sinners shall be consumed out of the earth, and wicked men shall be no more. Bless Jehovah, my soul. Praise ye Jah.
Notes on Psalm 104
This is the connected and dependent outburst of praise, with a similar beginning (“of David” excepted), and here therefore in due place. The theme is Jehovah supreme over creation, the chiefdom in Col. 1:1515Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: (Colossians 1:15) asserted of Christ, and this on evident and conclusive ground, because by (ἰν, in virtue of) Him were created all things (τὰ π the universe), those in the heavens and those on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones, &c. The whole of them has been created through Him and for Him; and He is before all things; and the universe by Him subsists together. As the preceding psalm celebrated what Jehovah-Messiah is to Israel, from the individual widening out and upward, so this definitely views creation blessed after long bondage and growing vanity through sin, but now delivered through the Second man. So the scriptures show, when sinners shall be consumed out of the earth and wicked persons be no more. This result rationalism deprecates irreverently and unintelligently as “a glow of passion.” For man, not God, fills the unbelieving mind to the exclusion of His glory. But in the end of the age the darnel shall be rooted out, instead of growing together with the wheat as now. And this is meet and due to God: even those punished will own it vainly for their lot in that day.
This book closes with the next two psalms which are an evidently antithetical pair, each by a different route tending, and contributing, to the end of Jehovah, His mercy in saving Israel to His own praise.