Joining God in Enjoying Creation (Psalm 104)

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Psalm 104 (ESV)

104 Bless the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, you are very great!

You are clothed with splendor and majesty,

²  covering yourself with light as with a garment,

stretching out the heavens like a tent.

³  He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;

he makes the clouds his chariot;

he rides on the wings of the wind;

⁴  he makes his messengers winds,

his ministers a flaming fire.

⁵  He set the earth on its foundations,

so that it should never be moved.

⁶  You covered it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

⁷  At your rebuke they fled;

at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.

⁸  The mountains rose, the valleys sank down

to the place that you appointed for them.

⁹  You set a boundary that they may not pass,

so that they might not again cover the earth.

¹⁰  You make springs gush forth in the valleys;

they flow between the hills;

¹¹  they give drink to every beast of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

¹²  Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;

they sing among the branches.

¹³  From your lofty abode you water the mountains;

the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

¹⁴  You cause the grass to grow for the livestock

and plants for man to cultivate,

that he may bring forth food from the earth

¹⁵  and wine to gladden the heart of man,

oil to make his face shine

and bread to strengthen man’s heart.

¹⁶  The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

¹⁷  In them the birds build their nests;

the stork has her home in the fir trees.

¹⁸  The high mountains are for the wild goats;

the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

¹⁹  He made the moon to mark the seasons;

the sun knows its time for setting.

²⁰  You make darkness, and it is night,

when all the beasts of the forest creep about.

²¹  The young lions roar for their prey,

seeking their food from God.

²²  When the sun rises, they steal away

and lie down in their dens.

²³  Man goes out to his work

and to his labor until the evening.

²⁴  O Lord, how manifold are your works!

In wisdom have you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

²⁵  Here is the sea, great and wide,

which teems with creatures innumerable,

living things both small and great.

²⁶  There go the ships,

and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.

²⁷  These all look to you,

to give them their food in due season.

²⁸  When you give it to them, they gather it up;

when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.

²⁹  When you hide your face, they are dismayed;

when you take away their breath, they die

and return to their dust.

³⁰  When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,

and you renew the face of the ground.

³¹  May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

may the Lord rejoice in his works,

³²  who looks on the earth and it trembles,

who touches the mountains and they smoke!

³³  I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

³⁴  May my meditation be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord.

³⁵  Let sinners be consumed from the earth,

and let the wicked be no more!

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord!

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