Psalms 104:24-28

104:24 How many living things you have made, O Lord! ¹ 

You have exhibited great skill in making all of them; ² 

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

104:25 Over here is the deep, wide sea, ³ 

which teems with innumerable swimming creatures, ⁴ 

living things both small and large.

104:26 The ships travel there,

and over here swims the whale ⁵  you made to play in it.

104:27 All of your creatures ⁶  wait for you

to provide them with food on a regular basis. ⁷ 

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

you open your hand and they are filled with food. ⁸ 

Zechariah 9:17

9:17 How precious and fair! ⁹  Grain will make the young men flourish and new wine the young women.

Acts 14:17

14:17 yet he did not leave himself without a witness by doing good, ¹⁰  by giving you rain from heaven ¹¹  and fruitful seasons, satisfying you ¹²  with food and your hearts with joy.” ¹³ 

[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.

[104:24]  ² tn Heb “all of them with wisdom you have made.”

[104:25]  ³ tn Heb “this [is] the sea, great and broad of hands [i.e., “sides” or “shores”].”

[104:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “where [there are] swimming things, and without number.”

[104:26]  ⁵ 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.

[104:27]  ⁶ 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.

[104:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “to give their food in its time.”

[104:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] good.”

[9:17]  ⁹ sn This expostulation best fits the whole preceding description of God’s eschatological work on behalf of his people. His goodness is especially evident in his nurturing of the young men and women of his kingdom.

[14:17]  ¹⁰ tn The participle ἀγαθουργῶν (agaqourgwn) is regarded as indicating means here, parallel to the following participles διδούς (didou") and ἐμπιπλῶν (empiplwn). This is the easiest way to understand the Greek structure. Semantically, the first participle is a general statement, followed by two participles giving specific examples of doing good.

[14:17]  ¹¹ tn Or “from the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

[14:17]  ¹² tn Grk “satisfying [filling] your hearts with food and joy.” This is an idiomatic expression; it strikes the English reader as strange to speak of “filling one’s heart with food.” Thus the additional direct object “you” has been supplied, separating the two expressions somewhat: “satisfying you with food and your hearts with joy.”

[14:17]  ¹³ sn God’s general sovereignty and gracious care in the creation are the way Paul introduces the theme of the goodness of God. He was trying to establish monotheism here. It is an OT theme (Gen 8:22; Ps 4:7; 145:15-16; 147:8-9; Isa 25:6; Jer 5:24) which also appears in the NT (Luke 12:22-34).