Psalm 104:10-30
New Catholic Bible
10 [a]You made springs gush forth in the valleys
and flow between the mountains.
11 They supply water to every beast of the field,
and from them the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 On the banks the birds of the air build nests
and sing among the branches.
13 [b]From your dwelling you water the mountains,
enriching the earth with the fruit of your labor.
14 You provide grass for the cattle,
and the plants for man to cultivate.
You bring forth food from the earth
15 and wine to gladden the heart[c] of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen his body.
16 The trees of the Lord have fruit in abundance,
the cedars of Lebanon[d] that he planted.
17 In them the birds build their nests;
in the fir trees the stork makes its home.
18 The high mountains are inhabited by the wild goats;
in the rocky crags the badgers[e] find refuge.
19 You created the moon that marks the seasons
and the sun that knows its time for setting.[f]
20 You bring on darkness, and it is night,
when all the beasts of the forests go on the prowl.
21 The young lions[g] roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
22 When the sun rises, they steal away
and return to their lairs to rest.
23 People go forth to their work
and to their labor until darkness descends.
24 [h]How countless are your works, O Lord;
by your wisdom you have made them all;
the earth abounds with your creatures.
25 There is the sea, vast and broad,
filled with numberless species,
living creatures both great and small.
26 There the ships sail forth,
and the Leviathan[i] that you formed to play therein.
27 [j]All of them look to you
to give them their food at the appropriate time.[k]
28 [l]When you provide it for them,
they gather it up;
when you open your hand,
they are filled with good things.
29 When you turn away your face,[m]
they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath,
they die and return to the dust.
30 When you send forth your Spirit,[n]
they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
Footnotes
- Psalm 104:10 God refreshes the ravines by means of the lower waters.
- Psalm 104:13 God refreshes his creatures by means of the reservoir of upper waters (see v. 3; Gen 7:11; Job 38:22; Sir 43:14).
- Psalm 104:15 Heart: see note on Ps 4:8.
- Psalm 104:16 Cedars of Lebanon: see note on Ps 80:11.
- Psalm 104:18 Badgers: the hyrax or rock badger, a small, harelike, ungulate mammal (see Lev 11:5; Deut 14:7; Prov 30:26).
- Psalm 104:19 The ancients governed their lives by the cycles of the sun and moon, which God created on the fourth day for that purpose (see Gen 1:14-19).
- Psalm 104:21 The young lions and man represent the animal and the human kingdom. The psalmist, in accord with the beliefs of his day, postulates that animals come out at night to search for their food, and humans do their working and eating by day. See Jn 9:4, where Jesus uses the inability of humans to work at night (because of the circumstances of his time—absence of light at night) to impart a greater spiritual truth.
- Psalm 104:24 The psalmist now takes up God’s creation of the sea and everything in it on the fifth day (see Gen 1:20-23). He calls upon the people to worship the Lord’s wisdom and creative diversity. Here he emphasizes sea creatures to complement the wild and domesticated animals and humans mentioned in verses 10-18.
- Psalm 104:26 See note on Ps 74:13-14. Here Leviathan is a whale or large cetacean. The name is that of a fabled dragon and is already found in Ugaritic poems of the 15th century B.C.
- Psalm 104:27 On the sixth day, God enabled everything he had made to fructify (see Gen 1:24-31). All living things on earth and in the sea, whether wild or domesticated, birds, sea creatures, and human beings have some idea of the living Presence by whom they exist (see Pss 145:15f; 147:9). They have their being in God (see Acts 17:24f), and the Lord gives and sustains life by his Spirit. Indeed, God has supreme power over the universe, creating, preserving, and governing all. The lives of all creatures are in his hands.
- Psalm 104:27 All nature depends on its Creator for provisions, and he has arranged for everyone to have enough food.
- Psalm 104:28 Creatures are governed by the Lord; they are gladdened by his provisions, terrified by his absence, and encounter death by the withdrawal of his breath.
- Psalm 104:29 Turn . . . face: see note on Ps 13:2. Return to dust: see note on Ps 90:3.
- Psalm 104:30 Your Spirit: the Spirit or “Breath” of God is the divine creative power, source of all natural life (see Gen 1:2; 2:7). So also the Holy Spirit is the source of all supernatural life (see Jn 3:5f). Hence, this verse is applied by the Church to the third Person of the Blessed Trinity.
