Psalms 104:1-3

Psalm 104 ¹ 

104:1 Praise the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, you are magnificent. ² 

You are robed in splendor and majesty.

104:2 He covers himself with light as if it were a garment.

He stretches out the skies like a tent curtain,

104:3 and lays the beams of the upper rooms of his palace on the rain clouds. ³ 

He makes the clouds his chariot,

and travels along on the wings of the wind. ⁴ 

[104:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 104. The psalmist praises God as the ruler of the world who sustains all life.

[104:1]  ² tn Heb “very great.”

[104:3]  ³ tn Heb “one who lays the beams on water [in] his upper rooms.” The “water” mentioned here corresponds to the “waters above” mentioned in Gen 1:7. For a discussion of the picture envisioned by the psalmist, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 44-45.

[104:3]  ⁴ sn Verse 3 may depict the Lord riding a cherub, which is in turn propelled by the wind current. Another option is that the wind is personified as a cherub. See Ps 18:10 and the discussion of ancient Near Eastern parallels to the imagery in M. Weinfeld, “‘Rider of the Clouds’ and ‘Gatherer of the Clouds’,” JANESCU 5 (1973): 422-24.