Psalms 104

Psalms 104WE have here another of those psalms, in which the hopes of God’s people are excited and their faith strengthened by a view of the authority and providential care which he exercises over the creation. The sum of the whole psalm is contained in the first verse, and its application indicated in the last. Here, as in Psalms 8, 29, 65, the description of God’s glory, as exhibited in nature, is entirely subservient to a moral and religious purpose, and the psalm is therefore fully entitled to a place in the collection, and adapted to the permanent use of the church. The arrangement of the psalm is founded on the history of the creation, but with such variations as were suited to the writer’s purpose. After a general statement of this purpose, ver. 1, the Psalmist traces the creative and providential agency of God in the works of the first and second day, Psalms 104:2-5, then in that of the third, Psalms 104:6-18, then in that of the fourth, Psalms 104:19-23, then in that of the fifth, Psalms 104:24-26, with an allusion to the rest of the seventh day in Psalms 104:31. The psalm closes with a summary statement of the dependence of all living creatures upon God’s care and bounty, Psalms 104:27-32, a resolution to glorify him accordingly, Psalms 104:33-34, and a pregnant inference, that they who are under such protection have nothing to fear from human enemies, Psalms 104:35.

According to Hengstenberg, this and the two next psalms compose a trilogy added to the Davidic one immediately preceding (Psalms 101-103.) about the time of the Babylonish exile. This hypothesis, he thinks, accounts for the occurrence of Davidic psalms in this part of the Psalter, which would otherwise have found their place among the Psalms of David in the first division of the book. But having been made the basis or the nucleus of later compositions, they were naturally placed with these in their proper chronological position.

1. (Psalms 104:1) Bless, O my soul, Jehovah! O Jehovah, my God, thou art great exceedingly; honour and majesty hast thou put on. The resemblance of the first clause to Psalms 103:1 shews the designed connection of the two psalms. The remainder of the verse is a kind of response to this invocation, and contains, as it were, the words in which his soul does actually bless God. At the same time it exhibits in advance the sum and substance of the whole composition, the design of which is to describe the glories of creation and providence as the royal robe of the divine sovereign. Compare Psalms 45:3; Psalms 93:1; Psalms 96:6, Job 40:10, Isaiah 9.

2. (Psalms 104:2) Wearing light like a robe, spreading heaven like a curtain. In carrying out the idea summarily stated in the first verse, he begins where the cosmogony in Genesis begins, with the light and the firmament, not the act of their creation, but their use, as the Creator’s robe and curtain. It follows of course that light and heaven must be taken in their popular and ordinary sense, and not as denoting the heaven of heavens and the light inaccessible in which he is elsewhere represented as dwelling. The definite forms of the original, the robe, the curtain, as contrasted with the vaguer forms, light, heaven, may be intended to suggest the idea of the robe and curtain known and used in common life, which man puts on and stretches out with perfect ease, but not more easily than God puts on the light and stretches out the sky. Compare Genesis 1:6, Isaiah 40:22, Job 9:8.

3. (Psalms 104:3) Framing with water his halls; making clouds his conveyance; moving on wings of the wind. The first word means laying beams or rafters. The next phrase may either mean in or with water. The first is more obvious, the last more striking; as it represents a solid building, made of a liquid or fluid material. In the other case the waters meant are those above the firmament. See Genesis 1:6-7, Psalms 18:11, where the clouds and the wings of the wind are also mentioned in the same connection.

The word translated halls denotes the highest room of an oriental house, which is frequently the largest. Hence the frequent mention, in the New Testament, of the place of assembly. Making, literally setting, placing. Chariot is too specific a translation of the Hebrew word, which means anything on which a person rides. The preposterous figure of walking on wings belongs entirely to the versions, ancient and modern. The Hebrew word, though often so applied, is a generic one, denoting all progressive movement, and nearly equivalent to our word going, which is not so agreeable, however, in this place, to English usage, as the more general and poetical term moving.

See above on Psalms 18:10.

4. (Psalms 104:4) Making his angels winds, his ministers flaming fire. According to the simplest and most obvious construction of this verse, it can only mean that God makes his angels or ministering spirits swift and ardent in his service. But such a statement would be wholly out of place in a psalm, the rest of which relates exclusively to the material creation. The best interpreters are therefore of opinion that angels and ministers are predicates, not subjects, or in other words, that the idea meant to be conveyed is, that he makes the winds his messengers or angels, and the flaming fire his minister or servant. This agrees exactly with the previous declaration that he makes the clouds his chariot or conveyance, and moves upon the wings of the wind. It may seem, however, to be inconsistent with the use made of the passage in Hebrews 1:7, as a proof that , the angels are inferior to the Son of God.

But how could this inferiority be proved by the fact that the angels are spirits, or even wind and fire? The latter cannot be literally true, and if metaphorical, can only mean that they are swift and ardent in God’s service, which they might be and yet equal to the Son in nature, who, considered as a messenger or agent of the Father, exhibits precisely the same qualities, The truth is, that the passage, as thus understood, is perfectly irrelevant and useless to the argument, and therefore that this mode of explaining it is not entitled to the preference, whatever difficulties may attend the other.

Let it be observed, too, that the Septuagint version, which is quoted in Hebrews 1:7, is an exact transcript of the Hebrew, both as to the sense and collocation of the words, so that if the original admits of a different construction, it may be extended to the version likewise. The most satisfactory conclusion is, that the words are not quoted as an argument or proof of the inferiority of angels, but merely as a striking yet familiar form of words in which to clothe the writer’s own idea, which is this, that angels are mere messengers and ministers, and as such may be classed with the material agencies which God employs in execution of his purpose. The wind and the lightning are God’s angels and his ministers, and are expressly so described in the Old Testament; but they are never called his sons, much less addressed directly as the sovereign, eternal, righteous, ever-blessed God. Nor are the ministering spirits, who share with these material agencies the character of messengers and servants, ever so described or so addressed. By thus supplying the suppressed links of the chain of argument, the verse before us, in the only sense of which the context really admits, will be found not only as appropriate as the other to the pur-pose for which it is quoted in the New Testament, but incomparably more so.

5. (Psalms 104:5) He founded the earth on its bases; it shall not be moved for ever and ever. The idea of bases is rather suggested by the context, and especially the verb founded, than expressed by the Hebrew noun itself, which properly means places, or more specifically, fixed and settled places. See above, on Psalms 89:14; Psalms 97:2, and with the whole verse compare Psalms 78:69; Psalms 89:11; Psalms 102:25.

6. (Psalms 104:6) (With) the deep, like a garment, thou didst cover it; above the mountains stand the waters. Next in importance to the separation of the land and water in the beginning (Genesis 1:9-10), was the temporary confounding. of the two in the universal deluge (Genesis 7:19-20), which the Psalmist therefore here connects with the creation, as equally demonstrative of almighty power, and also for the purpose of founding on this seeming vio lation of the promise in the last clause of ver. 5 (Psalms 104:5), a still more solemn repetition of it. The grammatical objection that the pronoun in the phrase didst cover it is masculine, and cannot therefore refer to earth which is feminine, is easily removed by a reference to the general licence of the Hebrew syntax with respect to genders, and the idiomatic tendency to use the masculine,not as a distinctive but as a generic form, in cases where the subject is sufficiently indicated by the context. There are, moreover, several clear examples of the masculine construction of this very noun besides those in which earth or land is put for its inhabitants. See e.g. Genesis 13:6, Isaiah 9:18. The allusion in the last clause to Genesis 7:19-20, is too plain to be mistaken.

7. (Psalms 104:7) At thy rebuke they flee, at the voice of thy thunder they hasten away. The same power that produced the deluge put an end to it. The verbs agree with waters in ver. 6 (Psalms 104:6). The divine command that they should cease or disappear is poetically spoken of as a rebuke. See above, on Psalms 18:15; Psalms 76:6, and compare Isaiah 1:2. The Hebrew particle means from, denoting both the time and cause of the effect described. The last verb is a passive meaning strictly to be panic-struck, or to flee in consequence of being panic-struck. See above, on Psalms 31:22; Psalms 48:5. The voice of thy thunder may be literally understood to mean the sound of thunder, or according to a well-known Hebrew idiom, thy voice of thunder, or thy thundering voice.

8. (Psalms 104:8) They go up mountains, they go down valleys, to this place thou past founded for them. The first clause is a beautiful description of the fluctuations which attend the subsidence of swollen waters, not only in the case of Noah’s flood (Genesis 8:4-5) to which the words relate in the first instance, but in all other cases, where the same rule still holds good, so that the verse, by an insensible transition, founds the statement of a general truth on that of a particular event. The use of the demonstrative (this) is highly idiomatic. The original construction is, to a place, this (which) thou host founded for them. This form of expression is equivalent to pointing with the hand, and therefore adds not a little to the graphic vividness of the description.

9. (Psalms 104:9) A bound thou didst set, they shall not pass over, they shall not return to cover the earth. This grand exception to the law which governs the relations between land and water is the only one to be permitted or expected. The limits broken were renewed with an assurance that henceforth they should be inviolable. See Genesis 9:15. Besides the immediate reference to the flood, the verse contains the statement of a general fact in the economy of nature, and thus furnishes a natural transition to the similar statements of the next verse.

10. (Psalms 104:10) Sending springs into the valleys; between hills they go. The participial construction, interrupted by the parenthetical account of the flood, is here resumed, the participle, like the others, agreeing directly with Jehovah understood, as the (one) sending, which is the precise form of the original. See above, on Psalms 103:3-6. Springs or fountains, not in the restricted sense, but comprehending both the source and stream, as in Joe 3:18. The word translated valleys is restricted in usage to such as have streams flowing through them. The last word is the one translated walketh by the English Bible in ver. 3 (Psalms 104:3) above, but here run, although walk is given in the margin, as a more precise and literal translation, while Jerome inserts it in his text, ut inter medios montes ambulent.

11. (Psalms 104:11) They water every beast of the field; (at them) wild asses quench their thirst. The subject of the first verb is still the waters. The verb itself means to water, in the sense of giving drink to animals, though sometimes metaphorically applied to irrigation. See Genesis 2:10. The form of the parallelism in this verse is peculiar, although not uncommon in Hebrew poetry, the last clause containing a specification of the general statement in the first. What is first said of animals, or wild ones in the general, is then said of the wild ass in particular.

Quench, literally break, i.e. subdue, assuage. A derivative noun is applied in Hebrew to corn or grain, as that which breaks or assuages hunger, although most interpreters and lexicographers suppose a reference to the literal breaking or grinding of the corn itself.

12. (Psalms 104:12) Above them the birds of heaven dwell, from between the branches they give voice. The poetical character of the composition is in nothing more obvious than in these minute strokes of exquisite painting, superadded to the more essential parts of the description. At the same time these are not to be regarded as mere lavish or gratuitous embellishments, since the Psalmist’s purpose is to celebrate God’s wonderful and bountiful provision for his living creatures, and the running brooks would fail to answer one of their most valuable ends, if there were no birds to give voice or sing among the branches of the overhanging trees. The word translated birds is a collective answering to the old English fowl, not as used in the version of this psalm, where it is plural, but in that of Gen 1:20; Genesis 1:22; Genesis 1:26; Genesis 1:28. That passage furnishes an explanation of the phrase fowl (or birds) of heaven, in the fuller description (Genesis 1:20), fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven, i.e. through the air, across the face of the expanse or visible heaven.

13. (Psalms 104:13) Watering mountains from his upper rooms— from the fruit of thy works is the earth filled. He still returns to God as the author of these merciful provisions, and represents him by a beautiful figure, as pouring this abundant supply of water from his upper rooms, the same word that was rendered halls in ver. 3; but here the connection seems to require that its precise etymological import should be prominent. The fruit of thy works, the result or product of thy creative energy. Filled, not in the sense of being occupied, which would require a different Hebrew verb, but in that of being abundantly supplied or saturated. See above, on Psalms 8:5. The sudden apostrophe to God himself enhances the poetical effect.

14. (Psalms 104:14) Causing grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the culture of man, (so as) to bring forth bread from the earth. In this verse there is a transition from God’s care of the inferior animals to his care of man. The word translated herb denotes any green plant or vegetable, and is here applied to such as constitute or furnish human food. The common version of the next words, for the service of man, can only mean for his benefit or use, a sense not belonging to the Hebrew word, which, as well as its verbal root, is applied to man’s servitude or bondage as a tiller of the ground (Genesis 3:17-19), and has here the sense of husbandry or cultivation, as in Exodus 1:14, Leviticus 25:39, it has that of compulsory or servile labour. The infinitive in the last clause indicates the object for which labour is imposed on man.

15. (Psalms 104:15) And wine gladdens the heart of man—(so as) to make his face shine more than oil— and bread the heart of man sustains. The general expression at the end of ver. 14 (Psalms 104:14) is now rendered more specific by distinctly mentioning the great staples of production and subsistence in the Holy Land. The only doubt is whether two or three are mentioned. The text of the English Bible makes oil a distinct item in the catalogue, and oil to make his face to shine. But this is an impossible construction of the Hebrew, in which the infinitive (to make shine) bears the same relation to what goes before as the infinitive (to bring forth) in the verse preceding, and is therefore expressive, not of a distinct cause and effect, but of a consequence resulting from the one just mentioned. The true construction is given in the margin of the English Bible, to make his face shine with oil or more than oil.

To the first of these alternative translations it may be objected that wine cannot make men’s faces shine with oil, unless there is allusion to the festive unctions of the ancients, which, however, were restricted to the head. The other, therefore, seems to be the true sense, in which oil is merely mentioned as a shining Substance. The description of food as sustaining the heart is very ancient. See Genesis 18:5, Judges 19:8.

16. (Psalms 104:16) Full are the trees of Jehovah; the cedars of Lebanon which he planted. Full, i.e. abundantly supplied, saturated, as in ver. 13 (Psalms 104:13). The English versions supply sap; but the idea suggested by the context is the more general one of moisture, irrigation. The mutual relation of the clauses is the same as in ver. 11(Psalms 104:11). What is first said of trees, or of the noblest trees in general, is then said of the cedars in particular. The trees of Jehovah, like the cedars of God in Psalms 80:10, are those which he has planted (Numbers 24:6), those which, by their loftiness or fruitfulness or beauty, bear the strongest impress of their Maker’s hand. The cedars of Lebanon are often mentioned as the noblest and most famous of their kind. See above, on Psalms 29:5; Psalms 92:12.

17. (Psalms 104:17) Where the (small) birds nestle; (as to) the stork, the cypresses (are) her house. He again recurs to the provision made for birds which is here connected with the trees, as it is in ver. 12 (Psalms 104:12). The word translated birds is not the one there used, but the same with that in Psalms 84:3; Psalms 102:7, where it is commonly translated sparrow, though supposed to be a general term for small birds, so called from their chirping, twittering noise. Here it may represent the smaller, and the stork the larger class of birds. The Hebrew name of the stork means merciful or pious, and is supposed to have reference to the natural kindness of that bird, both to its parents and its young. Nestle or build their nests. The choice between the old translation, fir-trees, and the new one, cypresses, is exegetically unimportant.

18. (Psalms 104:18) Mountains, the high (ones), are for the wild goats— rocks (are) a refuge for the conies. The idea seems to be, that even the wildest situations, and the most inaccessible to man, afford shelter and subsistence to some form of life, and are therefore proofs of the divine benevolence and wisdom. Of the names of animals here mentioned, the first occurs also in the book of Job (Job 39:1); the second in the list of unclean beasts, Leviticus 11:5, Deuteronomy 14:7; and both in the writings of Solomon, Proverbs 5:19; Proverbs 30:26. Of the second, various explanations have been given, but none of them more probable than that derived from the rabbinical tradition. Nor is the question of the slightest exegetical importance, since the only peculiarities involved are those suggested by the text itself, to wit, that the animals intended must be such as inhabit rocks and mountains. Some supply a refuge in the first clause from the second; but a better sense is yielded by the simpler construction, they belong to (or are intended for) the wild goats, which agrees exactly with the drift of the whole psalm, to shew that all parts of the inanimate creation contribute something to, the comfort of the living sentient creature.

19. (Psalms 104:19) He made the moon for seasons; the sun knows his setting. Even the heavenly bodies have a reference to man’s advantage. The moon is a measure of time, and the sun defines the period of active labour. The word translated seasons is the plural of the one translated set time in Psalms 75:2; Psalms 102:14, and the same that means assemblies in Psalms 74:4; Psalms 74:8. It is here put for all divisions of time, including the succession of day and night, to which there is perhaps a special reference, as in the other clause, where the meaning seems to be, that the sun knows when and where to set, and does not make the day, with its attendant toils, perpetual. This is a strong poetical description of an obvious and familiar fact, and no more presupposes a particular theory or system of astronomy than the similar language of uninspired poets among ourselves.

20. (Psalms 104:20) Thou makest darkness and it is night; in it begins to move every beast of the forest. The first verb in Hebrew means to set or place, but is used precisely as a word of the same meaning is in ver. 3 (Psalms 104:3). Its abbreviated form does not indicate an optative meaning, but is substituted for the full form by poetic licence. It is night, or night is, night begins to be. The same inceptive meaning is expressed in the translation of the third verb which denotes animal motion, but is specially applied to that of reptiles. The idea of a secret, stealthy motion, as suggested by the common version (do creep forth), can hardly be intended, as the context shews the main idea of the passage to be this, that as the day affords a time for active motion to mankind and to domestic animals, the night affords a like time for the wilder beasts, or beasts of the forest, an expression which occurs above, in Psalms 50:10.

21. (Psalms 104:21) The young lions roaring for the prey, and to seek from God their food. By translating the participle and infinitive both as presents, the common version makes this a distinct proposition. But in Hebrew it forms part of the preceding sentence, and contains a specification of the general state-ment there made. When night comes on, all the beasts of the forest are aroused, and among the rest the lion, roaring for his prey, (is roused) to seek his food from God. This last expression implies no such purpose on the lion’s part, but merely that he seeks what can only be bestowed by an almighty being, which idea is suggested by the name of God here used.

22. (Psalms 104:22) The sun rises— they are gathered— and in their dens lie down. The first clause may also be translated, let the sun rise, they are gathered, or paraphrased in more accordance with our idiom, when the sun rises they are gathered; but neither of these constructions is so striking and poetical as the exact version, first above given. Gathered, i.e. called in from their wanderings and dispersions. The word translated dens means abodes or homes, and is a cognate form to that in Ps. xc. 1; but the form here used is specially applied to the lairs or resting-places of wild beasts, not only here but in Amos 3:4. The last verb is also one appropriated to the lying down of animals. See above, on Psalms 23:2. The construction is a pregnant one: they lie down to (or) into their dens, i.e. go into them and lie down.

23. (Psalms 104:23) Forth goes man to his work, and to his labour until evening. This verse presents the day-scene corresponding to the night-scene of the two preceding verses. When night comes on, the beasts of the forest are in motion; when the sun appears, they gather to their lairs, and man comes forth to labour until evening, when the scene is shifted as before. Leaving out of view all higher claims to admiration and respect, the poetical merit of this whole description is of the highest order. The word translated labour is the same that was translated culture in ver. 14 (Psalms 104:14).

24. (Psalms 104:24) How manifold are thy works, Jehovah; all of them in wisdom hast thou wrought; full is the earth of thy riches. The first verb in Hebrew strictly means are many, but as the context has respect to the variety, and not to the mere number, of God’s works, the sense is well conveyed by the term used in the English version (manifold). Works and wrought represent a cognate verb and noun in Hebrew, a combination which adds point and animation to the sentence. The last word in the verse is derived from a verb which means to acquire, either by creation or by purchase. While the noun, therefore, strictly denotes acquisitions or possessions, its etymological affinities would instantly suggest to every Hebrew reader the idea of creation, as, the ultimate source of these possessions, a modification of the thought which cannot be conveyed by any mere translation.

25. (Psalms 104:25) Here is the sea, great and wide, on all hands; there are moving things and without number, small animals with great. The exclamation or reflection in the preceding verse affords a transition to the survey of other parts of the creation, not included in the catalogue before recited, yet no less striking in themselvess, and as proofs or illustrations of the Maker’s wisdom. Such is the sea, or here, for instance, is the sea, are the phrases which would probably be used in our idiom, to introduce the first example. The same thing was probably intended by the Hebrew phrase, this (is) the sea, as if the speaker at the same time pointed to it. See above, on Psalms 104:8. Wide of both hands is another idiomatic phrase used also by Moses (Genesis 34:21), and Isaiah (Isaiah 33:21).

It obviously means stretching out in all directions. The sense of hand as thus used, is the same as in the English phrase on all hands, and is probably derived from the use of the right and left hand to distinguish position or direction. Moving things is here used to translate a single Hebrew word the cognate noun of the verb employed in ver. 20(Psalms 104:20) to denote animal motion. It is applied to marine animals, as here in Genesis 1:9, Psalms 69:34. The use of the word beasts, in the common version of the last clause, is not consistent with its modern usage, which restricts it to terrestrial quadrupeds.

26. (Psalms 104:26) There the ships go— Leviathan— this (that) thou hast formed to play therein. While the ships connect the sea with man’s activity and interests, Leviathan, the standing representative of aquatic monsters, may be here put for the population of the sea itself. To play therein, as in his native element. Compare Job 40:20. The idiomatic use of this is like that in Psalms 104:25. The word translated go, in the common version of the first clause, is the same that was rendered walk in Psalms 104:3, and run in Psalms 104:10.

27. (Psalms 104:27) All of them on thee rely, to give their food in its season. The all of them obviously relates to all the living creatures previously mentioned, and not to any one or more exclusively, the proposition being no less true of men than brutes, or of brutes than men. On thee rely is not an exact translation of the Hebrew, which indeed does not admit of one, because it combines a verb and preposition which cannot be combined in English. The form of the original is, to thee wait, expect, or hope, the verb expressing confidence, the particle the act of looking towards the object thus confided in. The description of the animals as thus expecting their supplies from God, is merely the poetical costume in which the Psalmist clothes the fact that they are really, although unconsciously, dependent on him. In precisely the same manner, other poets represent the earth, in time of drought, as parched with thirst and longing for the rain, which expressions no sane man would either charge with falsehood, or consider as implying a belief in the conscious personality of Earth.

Compare my note on Isaiah 42:4. In its season, i.e. when they need it.

28. (Psalms 104:28) Thou givest to them, they gather; thou openest thy hand, they are filled (with) food. The point of the significant antithesis is this, that God as easily bestows as they receive. He has only to give, they have only to gather. He has but to open his hand, and they are instantly provided, even to satiety. Filled, satisfied, abundantly supplied, as in Psalms 104:13. The verb rendered gather means to pick up or collect from the ground. It is used in the history of the manna (Exodus 16:1; Exodus 16:5; Exodus 16:16), to which there is obvious allusion. The act of gathering from the ground seems to pre-suppose a previous throwing down from heaven. The common version, that (meaning what) thou givest them they gather, weakens the sentence, if it does not render it unmeaning.
29. (Psalms 104:29) Thou hidest thy face, they are confounded; thou withdrawest their breath, they expire, and to their dust return. The hiding of God’s face is the opposite of looking with a favourable aspect. See above, on Psalms 13:1. It here means the suspension or withdrawing of the various benefits before described. They are troubled is, in every case, a feeble version of one of the strongest words in the language, which has been already more than once explained. Even confounded, though much stronger, does not perfectly convey the idea, which is that of being agitated, terror-stricken, or convulsed.

See above, on Psalms 2:5; Psalms 78:7. heir breath, the vital principle imparted by the Spirit of God (Genesis 2:7), who is the God of the spirits of all flesh, i.e. the author of all life whatever. See Numbers 16:22; Numbers 27:16, and compare Hebrews 12:9. The verb expire is used in the account of the destruction of all living creatures by the flood, Genesis 7:21-22, to which there is no doubt allusion, as there is in the next clause to Genesis 3:19. Compare Psalms 90:3; Psalms 103:14, Ecclesiastes 12:7. Their dust, their own, their native dust, to which they belong, and from which they sprang.

30. (Psalms 104:30) Thou sendest thy breath, they are created, and thou renewest the face of the earth. The absolute power of God over the life of his creatures is expressed by representing him as annihilating and creating the whole race at pleasure, by a breath. With equal correctness we might read thy spirit, but thy breath is more poetical, and therefore better suited to the context as the primary meaning, though the spirit be really intended. They are created refers the effect more directly to God’s power than they live or they revive would do. In the last clause there is evident allusion to the renovation of the earth desolated by the flood, and the joyous change of its face or aspect when re-peopled.

31. (Psalms 104:31) Let the glory of Jehovah be for ever; let Jehovah rejoice in his works. The optative form of the first verb here determines the meaning of the other. It would also be grammatical, though much, less natural in this connection, to regard the abbreviated form of the first verb as a mere poetic licence, and explain both as futures proper. The glory of Jehovah shall be to eternity; Jehovah shall rejoice in his works. The grammatical question is of less importance, because one of these senses really implies the other. The wish is not for Something doubtful but infallibly certain, and the prediction is in strict accordance with the wish of him who utters it.

In this verse some interpreters suppose an allusion to God’s satisfaction in his own work of creation when he rested from it on the seventh day. See Genesis 2:1-2. 32. (Psalms 104:32) He that looks at the earth and it quakes, touches the hills and they smoke. There is something in the form of this verse similar to that of Psa 104:28. God has only to look at the earth to make it quake. He has only to touch the mountains and they smoke. His controlling and terrifying acts are as prompt and easy as his acts of grace. There seems to be a reference to the words of Moses in describing the effects of the theophany at Sinai, when its summit smoked, and its very roots or bases were on fire.

See Exodus 19:18, Deuteronomy 32:22. To those familiar with the constant use of mountains as a symbol of great monarchies, this verse would necessarily suggest the thought, that God’s power over states is no less absolute than that which he exercises over individuals, or over the inanimate creation.

33. (Psalms 104:33) I will sing to Jehovah while I live, I will make music to my God while I still (exist). This is the Psalmist’s conclusion from the view which he has taken, with respect to his own interest and duty. If the Lord be such a God to all his creatures, then I can do no better than expend the remainder of my life in praising him. The two verbs are those continually joined to denote vocal and instrumental praise. The closing words of each clause, and especially the second, have a highly idiomatic character. The phrase translated while I live means literally in my life or lives. The corresponding one can scarcely be translated, as it is composed of the preposition in, the adverb yet or still, and the pronoun of the first person, in my yet, i.e. in my (being) yet, while I still am, or continue to exist.

34. (Psalms 104:34) Sweet shall be of him my meditation; I will rejoice in Jehovah. The ancient versions and the Prayer Book, with some of the best interpreters, put an optative sense upon the first clause, may my thought (or speech) be acceptable to him. In favour of this interpretation is the fact that a synonymous verb, followed by the same preposition, means to be pleasing to a person, in Psalms 16:6. In favour of the other is want of anything to indicate a wish, and the parallelism of the second clause, which relates to the expression of his own feelings towards Jehovah, not to the dispositions of Jehovah towards himself. Thus understood, the whole verse completes the Psalmist’s practical conclusion from the view which he has taken of God’s power, wisdom, and goodness, namely, that the knowledge and possession of this God is happiness.

35. (Psalms 104:35) Consumed are sinners from the earth, and (as for) wicked men, they are no more. Bless, 0 my soul, Jehovah. Hallelujah! This verse has no perceptible connection, either with the verse immediately before it, or with the general drift of the whole psalm, except upon the supposition, that the whole psalm was intended to derive, from the view of God’s authoritative care over his works, an encouraging assurance that his people must be safe; that he who feeds and shelters the inferior animals, and makes provision for the physical necessities of men in general, cannot fail to provide for the security and happiness of those whom he has set apart for himself, or to free them from the malice of those sinners who are equally the enemies of God and of his people. The psalm, like the one before it, closes with the same words which began it. The last word, Hallelujah (praise ye Jah), occurs here for the first time, and is supposed by some to form no part of the original composition, but to have been added for the purpose of adapting it to some public service at a later date.