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Psalms

About this book
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 Psalm 104:26 and Targum Psalm 104:26

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Psalm 104 describes the mythological Leviathan as a creature made to play in the sea. The Aramaic Targum reinforces this by connecting Leviathan to a banquet for the righteous, based on traditions of a final contest between Leviathan and Behemoth.

Passages

Psalm 104:26

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

Targum Psalm 104:26

Targum
24 How many are your works, O Lord! You have made all of them in wisdom; the earth is full of your possessions. 25 This sea is great and broad in extent; creeping things are there without number, both tiny creatures and large. 26 There the ships go about, [and] this Leviathan you created for the sport of the righteous at the supper of his dwelling place. 27 All of them rely on you to give their food in its time. 28 You will give it to them, and they gather it; you will open your hand, and they are satisfied with goodness.
200–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Targum Psalms

References

“... The traces of this motif can be found in various rabbinic corpora, including targumim, midrashim, and piyyutim. Thus, Targum on Psalms 104:25-26 states that God created Leviathan in order to sport at the banquet of the righteous. It is possible that here the tradition about God’s “sporting” with Leviathan is interpreted through the spectacles of the monsters’ eschatological fight. Reflecting on this connection, Mulder observes that the Targum on this verse connects this ‘sporting’ again with the banquet, as it is interpreted as a play to entertain those who are seated at the table of God’s dwelling place .... Related to this is the tradition that Behemoth and Leviathan will perform a kind of bullring fight for the righteous in the world to come. In the context of this midrash watching this fight is a reward, similar to the banquet motif comforting the righteous. ...”
Andrei A. Orlov, “Eschatological Consumption of Leviathan and Behemoth as Revelation of the Messianic Torah,” in Watering the Garden: Studies in Honor of Deirdre Dempsey, ed. Andrei A. Orlov, Biblical Intersections 19 (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2022), 262.

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 104:26 and Targum Psalm 104:26

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