Context No. 98 of 4322 · Psalms

Psalms 104:17-35: in context

17where the birds make their nests. The stork makes its home in the cypress trees. 18The high mountains are for the wild goats. The rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers. 19He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun knows when to set. 20You make darkness, and it is night, in which all the animals of the forest prowl. 21The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God. 22The sun rises, and they steal away, and lie down in their dens. 23Man goes out to his work, to his labor until the evening. 24LORD, how many are your works! In wisdom, you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches. 25There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals. 26There the ships go, and leviathan, whom you formed to play there. 27These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season. 28You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good. 29You hide your face; they are troubled. You take away their breath; they die and return to the dust. 30You send out your Spirit and they are created. You renew the face of the ground. 31Let the LORD’s glory endure forever. Let the LORD rejoice in his works. 32He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke. 33I will sing to the LORD as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have any being. 34Let my meditation be sweet to him. I will rejoice in the LORD. 35Let sinners be consumed out of the earth. Let the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, my soul. Praise the LORD!

Psalm 104 is a long hymn about the created world, and it moves through it like a survey: the waters, the mountains, the trees, and the creatures each place holds. This passage is the second half, and its most striking feature is how little of it is about people.

Storks nest in the cypresses. Wild goats have the high mountains, rock badgers have the crags. The moon marks the seasons and the sun knows when to set. Night comes and the forest animals move, young lions roaring for their prey and seeking their food from God. Then the sun rises, they withdraw to their dens, and man goes out to his work until evening. Humanity gets one line, slotted into the day shift between the lions' night and their return.

The psalm has a long-noticed resemblance to the Great Hymn to the Aten, an Egyptian poem from Akhenaten's court centuries earlier, which also describes lions at night and people going out at dawn. Whether that is influence or the common stock of ancient hymns is still argued. What is not in doubt is what this poet does with it: the lions are asking God for dinner, and the sea creature Leviathan is in there to play. What would change in a day of mine if I really held that most of what is going on has nothing to do with me?

Sources

Psalm 104 as a survey of creation, with humanity given a single line among the creatures
The Great Hymn to the Aten from Akhenaten's court, whose parallels with this psalm are long noted and still debated as influence or common convention
Psalm 104:26: Leviathan formed to play in the sea