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LXX Psalms

Septuagint

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Psalm 103

1 Of David. Bless the Lord, my soul. Lord my God, you are very great; you have clothed yourself with praise and honor: 2 who robe yourself with light as with a garment; spreading out the heaven as a curtain. 3 Who covers his chambers with waters; who makes the clouds his chariot; who walks on the wings of the wind. 4 Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire.⁠ 5 Who establishes the earth on her sure foundation: it shall not be moved for ever. 6 The deep, as it were a garment, is his covering: the waters shall stand on the hills. 7 At your rebuke they shall flee; at the voice of your thunder they shall be alarmed. 8 They go up to the mountains, and down to the plains, to the place which you have founded for them. 9 You have set a bound which they shall not pass, neither shall they turn again to cover the earth. 10 He sends forth his fountains among the valleys: the waters shall run between the mountains. 11 They shall give drink to all the wild beasts of the field: the wild donkeys shall take of them to quench their thirst. 12 The birds of the sky will lodge by them: they shall utter a voice out of the midst of the rocks. 13 He waters the mountains from his chambers: the earth shall be satisfied with the fruit of your works. 14 He makes grass to grow for the cattle, and green herb for the service of men, to bring bread out of the earth; 15 and wine makes glad the heart of man, to make his face cheerful with oil: and bread strengthens man's heart. 16 The trees of the plain shall be full of sap; even the cedars of Lebanon which he has planted. 17 There the sparrows will build their nests; and the house of the heron takes the lead among them. 18 The high mountains are a refuge for the stags, and the rock for the rabbits. 19 He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knows his going down. 20 You made darkness, and it was night; in it all the wild beasts of the forest will be abroad: 21 even young lions roaring for prey, and to seek food for themselves from God. 22 The sun arises, and they shall be gathered together, and shall lie down in their dens. 23 Man shall go forth to his work, and to his labor till evening. 24 How great are your works, Lord! in wisdom you have made them all: the earth is filled with your creation. 25 So is this great and wide sea: there are things creeping innumerable, small animals and great. 26 There go the ships; and this dragon whom you have made to play in it. 27 All wait upon you, to give them their food in due season. 28 When you have given it them, they will gather it; and when you have opened your hand, they shall all be filled with good. 29 But when you have turned away your face, they shall be troubled: you will take away their breath, and they shall fail, and return to their dust. 30 You shall send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created; and you shall renew the face of the earth. 31 Let the glory of the Lord be for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works; 32 who looks upon the earth, and makes it tremble; who touches the mountains, and they smoke. 33 I will sing to the Lord while I live; I will sing praise to my God while I exist. 34 Let my meditation be sweet to him: and I will rejoice in the Lord. 35 Let the sinners fail from the earth, and transgressors, so that they shall be no more. Bless the Lord, my soul.

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 104:4 and LXX Psalms 103:4 and Hebrews 1:7

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint · New Testament

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Summary

In Psalm 104, the wind and fire are said to serve God, following an ancient Near Eastern tradition where deities rule natural forces. The Greek Septuagint translation makes them angels, and Hebrews uses this to explain their place in relation to Jesus.

Passages

Psalm 104:4

Hebrew Bible
2 He covers himself with light as if it were a garment. He stretches out the skies like a tent curtain 3 and lays the beams on water in his upper rooms3. He makes the clouds his chariot and travels on the wings of the wind. 4 He makes the winds his messengers and the flaming fire his attendant. 5 He established the earth on its foundations; it will never be moved. 6 The watery deep covered it like a garment; the waters reached above the mountains.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

LXX Psalms 103:4

Septuagint
2 who robe yourself with light as with a garment; spreading out the heaven as a curtain. 3 Who covers his chambers with waters; who makes the clouds his chariot; who walks on the wings of the wind. 4 Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire. 5 Who establishes the earth on her sure foundation: it shall not be moved for ever.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Psalms

Hebrews 1:7

New Testament
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my son! Today I have fathered you”? And in another place he says, “I will be his father and he will be my son.” 6 But when he again brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him!” 7 And he says of the angels, “He makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire,” 8 but of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and a righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. So God, your God, has anointed you over your companions with the oil of rejoicing.”
80–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Hebrews

References

"... Psalm 104 is a lengthy psalm in which God is praised for the creative work that allows for great bounty for all creatures ... The psalm is marked by ample use of theophoric language, with God described as harnessing various aspects of nature for service. The first four verses are most important for our purposes ... The language reflects that of Ugaritic texts that praise Baal for his defeat of the sea and provision of fertility for the earth, themes subsequently addressed in this psalm and also present elsewhere in the book of Psalms. The term מלאכיו appears in verse 4 and theoretically could be translated as either “his angels” or “his messengers.” Similarly, the other noun in the phrase, רוחות, could be translated as “winds” or “spirits,” but the former best fits the context, consistent with mention of clouds and winds in the previous verse ... Though this is the case in the Hebrew, a different understanding came to the forefront when the passage was translated into Greek ... the citation of the psalm text appears in the midst of the catena of quotations in [Hebrews] 1:5–14 demonstrating the superiority of the Son over the angels. As is frequently noted, the passages cited are normally about God or the Davidic king in their original contexts (with the author now applying them to the Son), but the citation in verse 7 differs in that it is specifically about the angels ..."
Eric F. Mason, “Hebrews and Second Temple Jewish Traditions on the Origins of Angels,” in Hebrews in Contexts, ed. Gabriella Gelardini and Harold W. Attridge, AJEC 91 (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 63–93.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Psalm 104:4 and LXX Psalms 103:4 and Hebrews 1:7

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