Psalms 104:23-35

Context

104:23 Men then go out to do their work,

and labor away until evening.¹

104:24 How many living things you have made, O Lord!²

You have exhibited great skill in making all of them;³

the earth is full of the living things you have made.

104:25 Over here is the deep, wide sea,⁴

which teems with innumerable swimming creatures,⁵

living things both small and large.

104:26 The ships travel there,

and over here swims the whale⁶ you made to play in it.

104:27 All of your creatures⁷ wait for you

to provide them with food on a regular basis.⁸

104:28 You give food to them and they receive it;

you open your hand and they are filled with food.⁹

104:29 When you ignore them, they panic.¹⁰

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!¹¹

May the Lord find pleasure in the living things he has made!¹²

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!¹³

104:34 May my thoughts¹⁴ be pleasing to him!

I will rejoice in the Lord.

104:35 May sinners disappear¹⁵ from the earth,

and the wicked vanish!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord!

[104:23] ¹tn Heb “man goes out to his work, and to his labor until evening.”

[104:24] ²tn 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.

[104:24] ³tn Heb “all of them with wisdom you have made.”

[104:25] ⁴tn Heb “this [is] the sea, great and broad of hands [i.e., “sides” or “shores”].”

[104:25] ⁵tn Heb “where [there are] swimming things, and without number.”

[104:26] ⁶tn 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.

[104:27] ⁷tn 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.

[104:27] ⁸tn Heb “to give their food in its time.”

[104:28] ⁹tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] good.”

[104:29] ¹⁰tn Heb “you hide your face, they are terrified.”

[104:31] ¹¹tn Heb “be forever.”

[104:31] ¹²tn Or “rejoice in his works.”

[104:33] ¹³tn Heb “in my duration.”

[104:34] ¹⁴tn That is, the psalmist’s thoughts as expressed in his songs of praise.

[104:35] ¹⁵tn Or “be destroyed.”