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Psalms

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Psalm 104

1 Praise the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are magnificent. You are robed in splendor and majesty. 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. 7 Your shout made the waters retreat; at the sound of your thunderous voice they hurried off— 8 as the mountains rose up and the valleys went down—to the place you appointed for them. 9 You set up a boundary for them that they could not cross, so that they would not cover the earth again.⁠ 10 He turns springs into streams; they flow between the mountains. 11 They provide water for all the animals in the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 The birds of the sky live beside them; they chirp among the bushes. 13 He waters the mountains from the upper rooms of his palace; the earth is full of the fruit you cause to grow. 14 He provides grass for the cattle and crops for people to cultivate, so they can produce food from the ground 15 as well as wine that makes people glad, and olive oil to make their faces shine as well as bread that sustains them. 16 The trees of the Lord receive all the rain they need, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted, 17 where the birds make nests near the evergreens in which the herons live. 18 The wild goats live in the high mountains; the rock badgers find safety in the cliffs. 19 He made the moon to mark the months, and the sun sets according to a regular schedule.⁠ 20 You make it dark and night comes, during which all the beasts of the forest prowl around.⁠ 21 The lions roar for prey, seeking their food from God. 22 When the sun rises, they withdraw and sleep in their dens. 23 People then go out to do their work, and they labor until evening. 24 How many living things you have made, O Lord! You have exhibited great skill in making all of them;⁠ the earth is full of the living things you have made. 25 Over here is the deep, wide sea, which teems with innumerable swimming creatures, living things both small and large. 26 The ships travel there, and over here swims Leviathan35 you made to play in it.⁠ 27 All your creatures wait for you to provide them with food on a regular basis. 28 You give food to them and they receive it; you open your hand and they are filled with food. 29 When you ignore them, they panic. When you take away their life’s breath, they die and return to dust.⁠ 30 When you send your life-giving breath, they are created, and you replenish the surface of the ground. 31 May the splendor of the Lord endure. May the Lord find pleasure in the living things he has made. 32 He looks down on the earth and it shakes; he touches the mountains and they start to smolder. 33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist. 34 May my thoughts be pleasing to him. I will rejoice in the Lord. 35 May sinners disappear from the earth, and the wicked vanish. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 1:14 and Psalm 104:19

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Genesis says the sun and moon were given to highlight “appointed times,” a phrase that can mean the seasons or cultural practices. Genesis is unclear about which light sets them, but Psalm 104 says the moon is the one that determines these times.

Passages

Genesis 1:14

Hebrew Bible
13 There was evening, and there was morning, a third day. 14 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years, 15 and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Psalm 104:19

Hebrew Bible
18 The wild goats live in the high mountains; the rock badgers find safety in the cliffs. 19 He made the moon to mark the months, and the sun sets according to a regular schedule. 20 You make it dark and night comes, during which all the beasts of the forest prowl around.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... What does môʿăḏîm “appointed times” in Genesis 1:14 refer to? VanGemeren says môʿēd has a non-cultic and cultic use. Under the non-cultic use môʿēd refers to a determined place or time and this can vary from the birth of a child (Genesis 17:21) to the migration of a bird (Jeremiah 8:7). A meeting between Jonathan and David, for example, can be referred to in this way (1 Samuel 20:35). Under the cultic use môʿēd refers to a religious festival, e.g., Leviticus 23.2, 4, 44, Isaiah 1:14, Ezekiel 36:38, 44:24, 45:17, Hosea 2:9. But môʿēd can refer to more than the pilgrimage festivals. In the Old Testament “feast” in the general sense of the word referred to “all set times of communal observance”. Even so, most English versions translate môʿăḏîm in Genesis 1:14 as “seasons (of the year)”. Some translate it literally as “set times, fixed times,” etc. and some translate môʿăḏîm as “religious festivals” ... However, whereas Genesis 1:14 is ambivalent as to whether the sun or the moon are signs for môʿăḏîm ‘appointed times,’ Psalm 104:19 is unequivocal in specifying that it is the moon (yārēaḥ) that marks the môʿăḏîm and not the sun (šemeš) ..."
John R. Roberts, The Anachronism of Môʿăḏîm ‘Appointed Times’ in Gen 1.14 (Dallas: SIL International, 2016), 1–8.

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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Genesis 1:14 and Psalm 104:19

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