Psalm 104

Psalm 104 is the 104th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in Hebrew "ברכי נפשי" ; in English in the King James Version: "Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 103. In Latin, it is known as "Benedic anima mea Domino".
Psalm 104 is used as a regular part of Jewish, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and other Protestant liturgies. It has often been set to music, including works by John Dowland, Heinrich Schütz, Philip Glass and William Lovelady.
The inaugural occurrence of the term "Hallelujah" within the Old Testament can be identified in Psalm 104, with subsequent instances found in Psalms 105 and 106. Notably, O. Palmer Robertson perceives these Psalms as a cohesive triad, serving as the concluding compositions of Book 4. Hallelujah will also appear in Psalm 113, Psalm 117, Psalm 135 Psalm and Psalms 146 through 150.
The psalm bears a notable resemblance to Akhenaten's Great Hymn to the Aten, written some 400 years earlier in Egypt.

Structure

vanGemeren notes a chiastic structure in Psalm 104, and Grogan notes that the structure follows the creation narrative in Genesis 1:

Content

One of the longer psalms, Psalm 104 is traditionally divided into 35 verses.
The titles below are those of vanGemeren.

Verses 1–4: In Praise of God's Royal Splendor

This echoes the first two days of creation in Genesis 1, and describes God as king moving through his royal dwelling.
It begins by describing the glory of God. This could also be rendered "you... who wraps... who stretches...".

Verse 2 shows the ease with which God acts. He spreads out the heavens as one would spread out a tent.
Verses 5–9: The Material Formation of the Earth

This covers day 3 of creation in Genesis 1, and with the next section, describes the functioning and ordering of the world, and makes it clear that even "the deep" is created by God, and not something existing "prior to" God, as in Babylonian creation mythology.

Verse 5 asserts that God has "laid the foundations of the Earth".
Verse 7: "Rebuke" does not imply judgment, but absolute control of the elements.
Verse 9 not only refers to Genesis 1:9-10, but also the covenant with Noah in Genesis 8:21-22 and 9:8-17.
Verses 10–18: The Glory of Animal Creation

A minor chiasm is evident:
A i. Water in the mountains
A′ i. Water in the mountains

Verse 10 replaces water flowing over. A home is made for the creatures.
Verses 19–23: The Regularity of the Created World

This and the following section cover days 4 and 5 of the Genesis 1 creation story.
See [|the section on the Aten hymn] below for similarities to the Egyptian hymn.

Verses 24–26: The Glory of Animal Creation

Verse 26 mentions the Leviathan in a way that emphasizes that it is just another one of God's creatures, likened to an object of entertainment, and not a challenge to his authority, as was believed by surrounding Canaanite tribes
Verses 27–30: The Spiritual Sustenance of the Earth
Verses 27–30 emphasise how all creatures still depend on the ongoing attention and provision of the creator, and perish should he avert his attention.
Verse 30 reads "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth."
Verses 31–35: In Praise of God's Royal Splendor
The concluding verses end where the Psalm began, reiterating the power and glory of YHWH, and the composer expresses his adoration, and, in the final verse, his wish that the sinners and wicked be "consumed out of the earth".

In the Masoretic text, the phrase Hallelujah is placed at the end of the final verse, and is seen as the introduction of the next Psalm. This is lacking in the Septuagint and the Vulgate, but it is rendered by the KJV as "Praise ye the LORD".

Similarity to the Great Hymn to the Aten

Psalm 104 bears similarities to the Egyptian Great Hymn to the Aten, which is frequently cited as a parallel text. in particular:

Aten Hymn	Content	Psalm 104
ii 7 – iii 10	A lion leaves its den after dark, and people rise at dawn to take up their work.	104:20–23
iv 8–11	"Ships go downstream or upstream as well... The fish in the river dart about in your sight and your beams are deep in the Great Green Sea."	104:25–26
vii 1–8	Creation of cattle, humans, and every sort of small beast. Proclaims: "How various are the things you have created, and they are all mysterious in your sight."	104:24

Grogan, Craigie, and Zimmerli note that as with parallels to other Ancient Near Eastern creation narratives in Genesis 1, the difference between the Biblical and other Ancient Near Eastern accounts is that in the Biblical narratives, the sun and other parts of creation are not gods, but creations themselves. The psalm is polemical and therefore "implicitly antipagan". Rather than copying from the Aten hymn, Psalm 104 is understood to be commenting or criticizing. This is further reinforced by the structure, in which the focal point of the chiasm is the orderliness of nature in which the celestial bodies are time keepers rather than deities.
Biblical scholar Mark S. Smith has commented that "Despite enduring support for the comparison of the two texts, enthusiasm for even indirect influence has been tempered in recent decades. In some quarters, the argument for any form of influence is simply rejected outright. Still some Egyptologists, such as Jan Assmann and Donald Redford, argue for Egyptian influence on both the Amarna correspondence and on Psalm 104". vanGemeren concludes that "though this matter has received extensive treatment any discussion on the literary association is complicated by the insufficient evidence of the cosmological framework of the surrounding nations and, hence, by the tentativeness of any theory explaining the relations and possible polemical use of these materials".

Uses

New Testament

In the New Testament, verse 4 is quoted in Hebrews 1:7.

Judaism

Many Observant Jews recite Psalm 104 during morning services on the New Moon, though customs vary.
It is recited in many communities following the Shabbat Mincha between Sukkot and Shabbat Hagadol.
Some recite verses 1–2 upon donning the tallit during morning services.
Verse 24 is part of Hameir La'aretz in the Blessings before the Shema during Shacharit and is found in Pirkei Avot Chapter 6, no. 10.
Verse 31 is the first verse of Yehi Kivod in Pesukei Dezimra, is part of Baruch Hashem L'Olam during Maariv, and is recited when opening the Hakafot on Simchat Torah.
Eastern Orthodox Church

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Psalm 103 is read daily at the beginning of Vespers, marking the start of a new liturgical day. It is part of the fourteenth Kathisma division of the Psalter, read at Matins on Thursday mornings, as well as on Tuesdays and Fridays during Lent, at the Third Hour and Matins, respectively.
At Vespers, Psalm 103/104 is traditionally appointed to be read by the senior reader. On festal days when the All-Night Vigil is served, this Psalm is sung by a choir, traditionally with various refrains between verses.
In the context of Vespers, this Psalm is understood to be a hymn of creation, in all the fulness wherein God has created it – it speaks of animals, plants, waters, skies, etc. In the scope of the liturgical act, it is often taken to be Adam's song, sung outside the closed gates of Eden from which he has been expelled. While the reader chants the psalm, the priest stands outside the closed Royal Doors wearing only his epitrachilion, making this symbolism more evident.

Catholic Church

This psalm is used during the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night. In the Liturgy of the Word, the first reading is the Creation story of the Book of Genesis, and Psalm 104, which deals with the same material, is the responsorial psalm. It is used again during Pentecost, at the end of the Easter season, as the responsorial psalm for the Vigil and the Sunday Mass.

Book of Common Prayer

In the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, this psalm is appointed to be read on the evening of the twentieth day of the month, as well as at Evensong on Whitsunday.

Literal interpretations

Verse 9 was interpreted by theologian Jaime Pérez de Valencia as a corroboration of classical geographer Claudius Ptolemy's hypothesis that the planet's oceans were entirely surrounded by land.

Popular culture

German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder remarked, "It is worth studying the Hebrew language for ten years in order to read Psalm 104 in the original".
Musician Bob Marley believed that cannabis use was prevalent in the Bible, reading passages such as the 14th verse of Psalm 104 as showing approval of its usage.

Musical settings

In The Whole Booke of Psalmes, published by Thomas Est in 1592, Psalm 104 is set by John Dowland in English, "My soul praise the Lord". Heinrich Schütz composed a four-part setting to a metric German text, "Herr, dich lob die Seele mein", SVW 202, for the 1628 Becker Psalter. In his 1726 cantata Es wartet alles auf dich, BWV 187, Bach set verses 27 and 28 in the first movement.
The hymn "O Worship the King" by Sir Robert Grant, first published in 1833, is based on the psalm.
Psalm 104, verse 4, was arranged for mixed chorus by Miriam Shatal in 1960.
Psalm 104, in Hebrew, is set as part of Akhnaten, an opera by Philip Glass.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, commissioned a setting of Psalm 104 by William Lovelady to mark his 75th birthday. An abridged version of the cantata for four-part choir and organ was performed for his funeral service on 17 April 2021 in St George's Chapel, Windsor.