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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

Psalm 104 and the Egyptian 'Great Hymn to the Aten'

Ancient Near East, Egyptian · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Psalm 104 uses language from the Egyptian text the Great Hymn to the Aten, such as its description of nightfall, how people sleep, and animals hunt. The Psalm follows its celebration of the daily renewal of life at sunrise and how the light renews life.
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Passages

Great Hymn to the Aten

Ancient Near East, Egyptian
When you set on the western horizon, the land is in darkness like death. People sleep in chambers with heads wrapped, and one eye does not see another. If all their goods under their heads were stolen, they would not know it. Every lion comes from its den, and all creeping snakes bite; darkness is a shroud, and the land is silent, for their maker rests on his horizon. The earth brightens when you rise on the horizon, when you shine as the Aten by day. You drive away darkness and send out your rays; the Two Lands are in festival, awake and standing on their feet, for you have raised them up. They wash their bodies and put on their clothes, lifting their arms in praise at your appearance; throughout the land, everyone does their work. All herds rest content in their pastures; trees and plants grow green. Birds fly from their nests, their wings stretched out in praise of your spirit. All flocks leap on their feet; all things that fly and land live when you rise for them. Ships sail upstream and downstream alike, for every road lies open at your appearance. Fish in the river leap before your face, and your rays reach deep into the great green sea.
1353–1336 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Great Hymn to the Aten

Psalm 104:20

Hebrew Bible
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.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... The 'Great Hymn to Aten' was found in the tomb of Ay, an Egyptian official from the 14th century BC, in Amarna. This literary monument was created during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten, known primarily for his religious reform. The "Great Hymn" is one of the most striking examples of a work whose motifs are traced in the Psalms. The original text used in this article is given according to the edition of N. Davies [Davies, 1908, XXV], and the translation - according to M.A. Korostovtsev [Vigasin, 1997, 51-55]. Parallels with Psalm 104 are observed in verses 20-30 of this psalm. Intersecting fragments are found from the first lines of the hymn to Aten: "You are Ra, you reach the limits created by you... You set in the western slope of the sky - and the earth is in darkness, like being caught by death. People sleep in their houses, and their heads are covered, and one eye does not see the other, and their possessions are stolen, hidden under their pillows, but they do not know. The lion comes out of its den. Snakes sting people in the dark when night comes and the earth plunges into silence, for the Creator of everything has descended beyond the edge of heaven". These lines conceptually resemble verses 19-21: "He made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to set. You stretch out the darkness, and it becomes night, when all the forest animals prowl about; the lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God". Fragments 4-5 have similarities with verses 22-23, in excerpts 7-8 the same praise of the numerous creations can be seen as in verse 24, and fragments 5-7 can be compared with verses 25-30 ..."
Ksenia A. Shperl, “Parallels between Ancient Egyptian Religious Literature and the Old Testament Psalms: Psalm 103 and ‘The Great Hymn to the Aten’,” (2018): 1–7.

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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Great Hymn to the Aten and Psalm 104:20

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