Psalms 104
1 Bless Jehovah, O my soul! Jehovah my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with majesty and splendour;
[I tell] myself that I should praise Yahweh. Yahweh, my God, you are very great! Like a king has on his royal robes [MET], you have honor and majesty/greatness all around you!
2 Covering thyself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent-curtain; —
You [created/caused] light to be like your robe [MET]. You spread out the sky like [a man sets up] a tent.
3 Who layeth the beams of his upper chambers in the waters, who maketh clouds his chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind;
You made/put your home [in heaven], above the rain clouds in the sky, [like a man puts the] rafters of his house in place [MET]. You made/caused the clouds to be like chariots [to carry you].
4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flame of fire.
You caused the winds to be [like] your messengers [MET], and flames of fire to be [like] your servants.
5 He laid the earth upon its foundations: it shall not be removed for ever.
You placed the world firmly on its foundation so that it can never be moved/shaken.
6 Thou hadst covered it with the deep, as with a vesture; the waters stood above the mountains:
[Later], you covered the earth with a flood, like a blanket, with the water that covered the mountains.
7 At thy rebuke they fled, at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away; —
[But] when you rebuked the water, the oceans receded; your voice spoke like thunder, and then the waters rushed away.
8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank, unto the place which thou hadst founded for them; —
Mountains rose up [from the water], and the valleys sank down to the levels that you had determined for them.
9 Thou hast set a bound which they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth.
[Then] you set a boundary for the oceans, a boundary that they cannot cross; their water will never again cover the [whole] earth.
10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys: they run among the mountains;
You make/cause springs to pour [water] into ravines; their [water] flows down between the mountains.
11 They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild asses quench their thirst.
Those [streams] provide water for all the animals [to drink]; the wild donkeys [drink the water and] are no longer thirsty.
12 The birds of heaven dwell by them; they give forth their voice from among the branches.
Birds make their nests alongside [the streams], and they sing among the branches [of the trees].
13 He watereth the mountains from his upper-chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
From (your home in heaven/the sky) you send rain down on the mountains, and you fill the earth with many good things that you create.
14 He maketh the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man; bringing forth bread out of the earth,
You make/cause grass to grow for the cattle [to eat], and you make/cause plants to grow for people. In that way [animals and people] get their food from [what grows in] the soil.
15 And wine which gladdeneth the heart of man; making [his] face shine with oil; and with bread he strengtheneth man's heart.
We get [grapes to make] [MTY] wine to [drink and] make us cheerful, and we get [olives to make] [MTY] olive oil to [put on our] skin and cause it to shine, and we get [grain to make] [MTY] bread to give us strength.
16 The trees of Jehovah are satisfied, the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted,
Yahweh, you [send plenty of rain to] water your trees, the cedar [trees] that you planted in Lebanon.
17 Where the birds make their nests; [as for] the stork, the fir trees are her house.
Birds make their nests in those [trees]; even storks make their nests in pine/fir trees.
18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the cliffs, a refuge for the rock-badgers.
High up in the mountains the wild goats live, and hyraxes/badgers live in the crags/crevices in the rocks.
19 He made the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth its going down.
[Yahweh], you made the moon to indicate the times for our festivals, and you made the sun that knows when to go down.
20 Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest creep forth:
You bring darkness, and it becomes night, when all the animals in the forest prowl around, [looking for food].
21 The young lions roar after the prey, and to seek their food from God.
At night the young lions roar as they seek their prey, [but] they depend on you to give them food.
22 The sun ariseth, they retreat, and lay them down in their dens.
At dawn, they go back to their dens and lie down.
23 Man goeth forth unto his work, and to his labour until the evening.
And during the daytime, people go to their work; they work until it is evening.
24 How manifold are thy works, O Jehovah! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
Yahweh, you have made so many different kinds of things! You were [very] wise as you made them all. The earth is full of the creatures that you [made].
25 Yonder is the great and wide sea: therein are moving things innumerable, living creatures small and great.
[We see] the ocean which is very large [DOU]! It is full of many kinds of living creatures, big ones and little ones.
26 There go the ships; [there] that leviathan, which thou hast formed to play therein.
We see the ships which sail along! We see the huge sea monster, which you made to (splash around/play) in the sea.
27 These all look unto thee, that thou mayest give their food in its season:
All of those creatures depend on you to give them the food that they need.
28 That thou givest unto them, they gather; thou openest thy hand, they are filled with good.
When you give them the food that they need, they gather it. You give them what you have in your hand, and they [eat it and] are satisfied.
29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away their breath, they expire and return to their dust.
[But] if you refuse to give food to them, they become terrified. And when you cause them to stop breathing, they die; their bodies [decay and] become soil again.
30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created, and thou renewest the face of the earth.
When you cause newborn creatures to begin to breathe, they start to live; you give new life to all the living creatures on the earth.
31 The glory of Jehovah will endure for ever; Jehovah will rejoice in his works.
I want the glory of Yahweh to last forever. I want him to rejoice about [all] the things that he has created.
32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he toucheth the mountains, and they smoke.
He causes the earth to shake [just] by looking at it! By [merely] touching the mountains he makes/causes them to pour out fire and smoke!
33 I will sing unto Jehovah as long as I live; I will sing psalms to my God while I have my being.
I will sing to Yahweh (as long as I live/throughout my entire life). I will praise my God until the day that I die.
34 My meditation shall be pleasant unto him; I will rejoice in Jehovah.
I want Yahweh to be pleased by all those things that I have thought [about him], because I rejoice about [knowing] him.
35 Sinners shall be consumed out of the earth, and the wicked shall be no more. Bless Jehovah, O my soul. Hallelujah!
[But] I desire that sinners will disappear from the earth, so that there will be no more wicked [people]! [But as for] me, I will praise Yahweh! (Praise him/Hallelujah)!
