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104. Psalm 104

¹ Praise the LORD, my soul.

LORD my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

    ² The LORD wraps himself in light as with a garment;
   he stretches out the heavens like a tent
    ³ and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.
He makes the clouds his chariot
   and rides on the wings of the wind.
⁴ He makes winds his messengers, Or angels
   flames of fire his servants.

    ⁵ He set the earth on its foundations;
   it can never be moved.
⁶ You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment;
   the waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ But at your rebuke the waters fled,
   at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
⁸ they flowed over the mountains,
   they went down into the valleys,
   to the place you assigned for them.
⁹ You set a boundary they cannot cross;
   never again will they cover the earth.

    ¹⁰ He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
   it flows between the mountains.
¹¹ They give water to all the beasts of the field;
   the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
   they sing among the branches.
¹³ He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
   the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
¹⁴ He makes grass grow for the cattle,
   and plants for people to cultivate—
   bringing forth food from the earth:
¹⁵ wine that gladdens human hearts,
   oil to make their faces shine,
   and bread that sustains their hearts.
¹⁶ The trees of the LORD are well watered,
   the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
¹⁷ There the birds make their nests;
   the stork has its home in the junipers.
¹⁸ The high mountains belong to the wild goats;
   the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.

    ¹⁹ He made the moon to mark the seasons,
   and the sun knows when to go down.
²⁰ You bring darkness, it becomes night,
   and all the beasts of the forest prowl.
²¹ The lions roar for their prey
   and seek their food from God.
²² The sun rises, and they steal away;
   they return and lie down in their dens.
²³ Then people go out to their work,
   to their labor until evening.

    ²⁴ How many are your works, LORD!
   In wisdom you made them all;
   the earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ There is the sea, vast and spacious,
   teeming with creatures beyond number—
   living things both large and small.
²⁶ There the ships go to and fro,
   and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

    ²⁷ All creatures look to you
   to give them their food at the proper time.
²⁸ When you give it to them,
   they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
   they are satisfied with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face,
   they are terrified;
when you take away their breath,
   they die and return to the dust.
³⁰ When you send your Spirit,
   they are created,
   and you renew the face of the ground.

    ³¹ May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
   may the LORD rejoice in his works—
³² he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
   who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

    ³³ I will sing to the LORD all my life;
   I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him,
   as I rejoice in the LORD.
³⁵ But may sinners vanish from the earth
   and the wicked be no more.

Praise the LORD, my soul.

Praise the LORD. Hebrew Hallelu Yah; in the Septuagint this line stands at the beginning of Psalm 105.

33. I will sing to Jehovah whilst I live Here the Psalmist points out to others their duty by his own example, declaring, that throughout the whole course of his life he will proclaim the praises of God without ever growing weary of that exercise. The only boundary which he fixes to the celebration of God’s praises is death; not that the saints, when they pass from this world into another state of existence, desist from this religious duty, but because the end for which we are created is, that the divine name may be celebrated by us on the earth. Conscious of his unworthiness to offer to God so precious a sacrifice, he humbly prays, (verse 34,) that the praises which he will sing to God may be acceptable to him, although they proceed from polluted lips. It is true, that there is nothing more acceptable to God, nor any thing of which he more approves, than the publication of his praises, even as there is no service which he more peculiarly requires us to perform. But as our uncleanness defiles that which in its own nature is most holy, the prophet with good reason betakes himself to the goodness of God, and on this ground alone pleads that He would accept of his song of praise. Accordingly, the Apostle, in Hebrews 13:15 teaches that our sacrifices of thanksgiving are well pleasing to God, when they are offered to him through Christ. It being however the case, that whilst all men indiscriminately enjoy the benefits of God, there are yet very few who look to the author of them, the prophet subjoins the clause, I will rejoice in the Lord; intimating, that this is a rare virtue; for nothing is more difficult than to call home the mind from those wild and erratic joys, which disperse themselves through heaven and earth in which they evanish, that it may keep itself fixed on God alone.

35. Let sinners perish from the earth This imprecation depends on the last clause of the 31st verse, Let Jehovah rejoice in his works As the wicked infect the world with their pollutions, the consequence is, that God has less delight in his own workmanship, and is even almost displeased with it. It is impossible, but that this uncleanness, which, being extended and diffused through every part of the world, vitiates and corrupts such a noble product of his hands, must be offensive to him. Since then the wicked, by their perverse abuse of God’s gifts, cause the world in a manner to degenerate and fall away from its first original, the prophet justly desires that they may be exterminated, until the race of them entirely fail. Let us then take care so to weigh the providence of God, as that being wholly devoted to obeying him, we may rightly and purely use the benefits which he sanctities for our enjoying them. Farther, let us be grieved, that such precious treasures are wickedly squandered away, and let us regard it as monstrous and detestable, that men not only forget their Maker, but also, as it were, purposely turn to a perverse and an unworthy end, whatever good things he has bestowed upon them.