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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 Psalm 104:4 and LXX Psalms 103:4 and Hebrews 1:7

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint · New Testament

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Summary

In Psalm 104, the wind and fire are said to serve God, following an ancient Near Eastern tradition where deities rule natural forces. The Greek Septuagint translation makes them angels, and Hebrews uses this to explain their place in relation to Jesus.

Passages

Psalm 104:4

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

LXX Psalms 103:4

Septuagint
2 who robe yourself with light as with a garment; spreading out the heaven as a curtain. 3 Who covers his chambers with waters; who makes the clouds his chariot; who walks on the wings of the wind. 4 Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire. 5 Who establishes the earth on her sure foundation: it shall not be moved for ever.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Psalms

Hebrews 1:7

New Testament
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my son! Today I have fathered you”? And in another place he says, “I will be his father and he will be my son.” 6 But when he again brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him!” 7 And he says of the angels, “He makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire,” 8 but of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and a righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. So God, your God, has anointed you over your companions with the oil of rejoicing.”
80–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Hebrews

References

"... Psalm 104 is a lengthy psalm in which God is praised for the creative work that allows for great bounty for all creatures ... The psalm is marked by ample use of theophoric language, with God described as harnessing various aspects of nature for service. The first four verses are most important for our purposes ... The language reflects that of Ugaritic texts that praise Baal for his defeat of the sea and provision of fertility for the earth, themes subsequently addressed in this psalm and also present elsewhere in the book of Psalms. The term מלאכיו appears in verse 4 and theoretically could be translated as either “his angels” or “his messengers.” Similarly, the other noun in the phrase, רוחות, could be translated as “winds” or “spirits,” but the former best fits the context, consistent with mention of clouds and winds in the previous verse ... Though this is the case in the Hebrew, a different understanding came to the forefront when the passage was translated into Greek ... the citation of the psalm text appears in the midst of the catena of quotations in [Hebrews] 1:5–14 demonstrating the superiority of the Son over the angels. As is frequently noted, the passages cited are normally about God or the Davidic king in their original contexts (with the author now applying them to the Son), but the citation in verse 7 differs in that it is specifically about the angels ..."
Eric F. Mason, “Hebrews and Second Temple Jewish Traditions on the Origins of Angels,” in Hebrews in Contexts, ed. Gabriella Gelardini and Harold W. Attridge, AJEC 91 (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 63–93.

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 104:4 and LXX Psalms 103:4 and Hebrews 1:7

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