Psalms 104:3
Context104:3 and lays the beams of the upper rooms of his palace on the rain clouds. 1
He makes the clouds his chariot,
and travels along on the wings of the wind. 2
Genesis 1:7
Context1:7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. 3 It was so. 4
Genesis 7:11
Context7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month – on that day all the fountains of the great deep 5 burst open and the floodgates of the heavens 6 were opened.
[104:3] 1 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] 2 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.
[1:7] 4 tn This statement indicates that it happened the way God designed it, underscoring the connection between word and event.
[7:11] 5 tn The Hebrew term תְּהוֹם (tÿhom, “deep”) refers to the watery deep, the salty ocean – especially the primeval ocean that surrounds and underlies the earth (see Gen 1:2).
[7:11] 6 sn On the prescientific view of the sky reflected here, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World (AnBib), 46.