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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 Enuma Elish IV and Psalm 104:3

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Psalm 104 describes God laying the beams of his upper chambers on the waters, a detail that parallels Enuma Elish, where Marduk stretches Tiamat’s body to form the heavens and appoints guards to keep the waters contained. Both describe a heavenly temple.

Passages

Enuma Elish IV

Ancient Near East, Babylonian · The Seven Tablets of Creation
And had attained the purpose of Nudimmud, Over the captive gods he strengthened his custody, And to Tiamat, whom he had conquered, he returned. And the lord stood upon Tiamat’s hindquarters, And with his merciless club he smashed her skull. He cut through the channels of her blood, And he made the North wind bear it away into secret places. His fathers saw, and they rejoiced and were glad; Presents and gifts they brought to him. Then the lord rested, gazing upon her dead body, In order to divide the lump by a clever scheme. He split her up like a flat fish into two halves; One half of her he set up and stretched out as the heavens. He stretched the skin and appointed a watch And ordered them not to let her waters come forth. He passed through the heavens, he surveyed the regions (of it), And opposite the Deep he set the dwelling of Nudimmud. And the lord measured the structure of the Deep, And he founded Esharra, a mansion like it. The mansion Esharra which he created as heaven, He caused Anu, Enlil, and Ea in their districts to inhabit.
1800–1750 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Enuma Elish

Psalm 104:3

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

References

"... Explicit statements that the heavens are made of water are found in Babylonian texts. Examples include Enuma Elish IV 137-46, where Marduk builds the heavens out of part of the watery corpse of Tiamat, and Inamgišuranki, where the Akkadian name for heaven, samê, is explained as ša me 'of water'. In Enuma Elish IV 139-40, Marduk stretches out a skin and assigns guards to keep the waters of heaven from draining downward onto lower regions of the universe. These traditions may be compared with Genesis 1, where the primeval waters are divided in two, with the upper waters positioned above the firmament (Tr), and Psalms 104:3 and 148:4, which speak of waters above the heavens ..."
Wayne Horowitzh, Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1998), 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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Enuma Elish IV and Psalm 104:3

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