Psalm 104

Psalm 104

Biblical Period

¹Bless the Lord, O my soul;

O Lord, my God, You are very great;

You are clothed in glory and majesty,

²wrapped in a robe of light;

You spread the heavens like a tent cloth.

³He sets the rafters of His lofts in the waters,

makes the clouds His chariot,

moves on the wings of the wind.

⁴He makes the winds His messengers,

fiery flames His servants.

⁵He established the earth on its foundations,

so that it shall never totter.

⁶You made the deep cover it as a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

⁷They fled at Your blast,

rushed away at the sound of Your thunder,

⁸—mountains rising, valleys sinking—

to the place You established for them.

⁹You set bounds they must not pass

so that they never again cover the earth.

¹⁰You make springs gush forth in torrents;

they make their way between the hills,

¹¹giving drink to all the wild beasts;

the wild asses slake their thirst.

¹²The birds of the sky dwell beside them

and sing among the foliage.

¹³You water the mountains from Your lofts;

the earth is sated from the fruit of Your work.

¹⁴You make the grass grow for the cattle,

and herbage for man’s labor

that he may get food out of the earth—

¹⁵wine that cheers the hearts of men

oil that makes the face shine,

and bread that sustains man’s life.

¹⁶The trees of the Lord drink their fill,

the cedars of Lebanon, His own planting,

¹⁷where birds make their nests;

the stork has her home in the junipers.

¹⁸The high mountains are for wild goats;

the crags are a refuge for rock-badgers.

¹⁹He made the moon to mark the seasons;

the sun knows when to set.

²⁰You bring on darkness and it is night,

when all the beasts of the forests stir.

²¹The lions roar for prey,

seeking their food from God.

²²When the sun rises, they come home

and couch in their dens.

²³Man then goes out to his work,

to his labor until the evening.

²⁴How many are the things You have made,

O Lord;

You have made them all with wisdom;

the earth is full of Your creations.

²⁵There is the sea, vast and wide,

with its creatures beyond number,

living things, small and great.

²⁶There go the ships,

and Leviathan that You formed to sport with.

²⁷All of them look to You

to give them their food when it is due.

²⁸Give it to them, they gather it up;

open Your hand, they are well satisfied;

²⁹hide Your face, they are terrified;

take away their breath, they perish

and turn again into dust;

³⁰send back Your breath, they are created,

and You renew the face of the earth.

³¹May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

may the Lord rejoice in His works!

³²He looks at the earth and it trembles;

He touches the mountains and they smoke.

³³I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

all my life I will chant hymns to my God.

³⁴May my prayer be pleasing to Him;

I will rejoice in the Lord.

³⁵May sinners disappear from the earth,

and the wicked be no more.

Bless the Lord, O my soul.

Hallelujah.

Credits

Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.

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