Text -- Psalms 104:19-35 (NET)

104:19 He made the moon to mark the months, and the sun sets according to a regular schedule. 104:20 You make it dark and night comes, during which all the beasts of the forest prowl around. 104:21 The lions roar for prey, seeking their food from God. 104:22 When the sun rises, they withdraw and sleep in their dens. 104:23 Men then go out to do their work, and labor away until evening. 104:24 How many living things you have made, O Lord! You have exhibited great skill in making all of them; the earth is full of the living things you have made. 104:25 Over here is the deep, wide sea, which teems with innumerable swimming creatures, living things both small and large. 104:26 The ships travel there, and over here swims the whale you made to play in it. 104:27 All of your creatures wait for you to provide them with food on a regular basis. 104:28 You give food to them and they receive it; you open your hand and they are filled with food. 104:29 When you ignore them, they panic. When you take away their life’s breath, they die and return to dust. 104:30 When you send your life-giving breath, they are created, and you replenish the surface of the ground. 104:31 May the splendor of the Lord endure! May the Lord find pleasure in the living things he has made! 104:32 He looks down on the earth and it shakes; he touches the mountains and they start to smolder. 104:33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist! 104:34 May my thoughts be pleasing to him! I will rejoice in the Lord. 104:35 May sinners disappear from the earth, and the wicked vanish! Praise the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord!

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 104:19

¹ tn Heb “he made [the] moon for appointed times.” The phrase “appointed times” probably refers to the months of the Hebrew lunar calendar.

² tn Heb more metaphorically, “knows its setting.”

NET Notes: Psa 104:20

¹ tn Heb “you make darkness, so that it might be night.”

NET Notes: Psa 104:21

¹ sn The lions’ roaring is viewed as a request for food from God.

NET Notes: Psa 104:22

¹ tn Heb “lie down.”

NET Notes: Psa 104:23

¹ tn Heb “man goes out to his work, and to his labor until evening.”

NET Notes: Psa 104:24

¹ tn Heb “How many [are] your works, O Lord.” In this case the Lord’s “works” are the creatures he has made, as the preceding and following contexts make clear.

² tn Heb “all of them with wisdom you have made.”

NET Notes: Psa 104:25

¹ tn Heb “this [is] the sea, great and broad of hands [i.e., “sides” or “shores”].”

² tn Heb “where [there are] swimming things, and without number.”

NET Notes: Psa 104:26

¹ tn Heb “[and] this Leviathan, [which] you formed to play in it.” Elsewhere Leviathan is a multiheaded sea monster that symbolizes forces hostile to God (see Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1), but here it appears to be an actual marine creature created by God, probably some type of whale.

NET Notes: Psa 104:27

¹ tn Heb “All of them.” The pronoun “them” refers not just to the sea creatures mentioned in vv. 25-26, but to all living things (see v. 24). This has been specified in the translation as “all of your creatures” for clarity.

² tn Heb “to give their food in its time.”

NET Notes: Psa 104:28

¹ tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] good.”

NET Notes: Psa 104:29

¹ tn Heb “you hide your face, they are terrified.”

NET Notes: Psa 104:31

¹ tn Heb “be forever.”

² tn Or “rejoice in his works.”

NET Notes: Psa 104:33

¹ tn Heb “in my duration.”

NET Notes: Psa 104:34

¹ tn That is, the psalmist’s thoughts as expressed in his songs of praise.

NET Notes: Psa 104:35

¹ tn Or “be destroyed.”