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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 KTU 1.3 V:30 and Psalm 104:24

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Psalm 104 shares the Baal Cycle's praise of divine wisdom, where Anat and Athirat call El's wisdom eternal, applying this way of honoring El to the skill of Israel's God in making the world.

Passages

KTU 1.3 V:30

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
I shall surely seize them in my right hand, and smite them by the strength of my long arm! I shall strike the top of your skull, and make your gray hair run with blood, the gray hair of your beard with gore!” El replied from within the seven chambers, through the eight façades of the closed rooms: “I know you, daughter, that you are pitiless, and that among goddesses there is no contempt like yours! What do you desire of me, O Virgin Anat?” And Virgin Anat replied: “Your word, El, is wise; you are everlastingly wise; a life of good fortune is your word. Our king is Valiant, Baal is our ruler; there is none who is above him. We should all carry his chalice, we should all carry his cup.”
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Psalm 104:24

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

References

“... Praise of the deity can be found in the Ugaritic texts, as in the Psalter, again in nar- rative contexts. As noted above, both Psalms 92 and 145 praise Yahweh much as Kothar wa-Hasis celebrates Baal. Similarly, in two other passages from the Baal Cycle (KTU 1.3 V 30–33, SAC 124; KTU 1.4 IV 41–44, SAC 131), the goddesses Anat and Athirat (biblical Asherah) off er praise to the god El for his wisdom and then to Baal for his kingship: Your decree is wise, El, Your wisdom is eternal, A lucky life is your decree. But Baal the Conqueror is our king, Our judge higher than all. God’s wisdom is likewise praised in Psalm 104:24, and praise for Yahweh’s kingship is common in the Psalter (e.g., Psalms 29, 48, 93, 96, 97, 99; Brettler 1989). ...”
Mark S. Smith, “Canaanite Backgrounds to the Psalms,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms, ed. William P. Brown (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 46.

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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KTU 1.3 V:30 and Psalm 104:24

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