"Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendour and majesty,
2 covering yourself with light as with a garment,
stretching out the heavens like a tent.
3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;
he makes the clouds his chariot;
he rides on the wings of the wind;
4 he makes his messengers winds,
his ministers a flaming fire.
5 He set the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be moved.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills;
11 they give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
they sing among the branches.
13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
15 and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen man's heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has her home in the fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.
19 He made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.
20 You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the beasts of the forest creep about.
21 The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they steal away
and lie down in their dens.
23 Man goes out to his work
and to his labour until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Here is the sea, great and wide,
which teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships,
and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.
27 These all look to you,
to give them their food in due season.
28 When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
31 May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works,
32 who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke!
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.
35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
and let the wicked be no more!
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Praise the Lord!"
Psalm 104
The commentators all point out that the Psalm is modelled fairly closely on the account of the Creation in Genesis 1. We may therefore suggest a picture that may serve to bring out the significance of this. Here is the Psalmist, reading his Bible. He is having his quiet time, if you like, and is reading Genesis 1. And this is what he gets out of his reading! He reads the chapter over, and is gripped by its majesty, its sublimity, its greatness of concept, and as he goes over it again slowly, the Spirit of God begins to interpret it to him, bringing out its meaning and its message. And the more its meaning comes out to him, the more his heart is kindled to worship and praise in adoration, as he exclaims, in 24, 'O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches'. But this is not nature worship, and it is not by gazing on nature that he thus speaks. It is by studying the Word and seeing nature as the Word unveils and unfolds it to his gaze. One readily thinks of the words in Job 38:4ff, 'Where wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth...'. The Psalmist has caught something of that spirit as he has meditated on the creation story. And what majestic pictures are kindled by the Word and the Spirit in his heart - the world as something God delights in, charged with His energy and alive with His presence (1-4); the world as being in His hands and in His control (5-9); God’s creatures at home in His world and provided for, with only man having to work for his living (10-18); the majestic picture of the wild beasts under His control (21ff); and over all, the bounty of God - His own hand (28), and His renewal of the face of the earth (30). Is not such a God worthy of the praise of our hearts!