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WHO sent forth springs into the valleys,

That they might flow between the mountains,

That they might give drink to all the wild animals of the field,

That the onagers might break their thirst,

That the birds of heaven might settle down,

From among the branches give forth song;

Who watered the mountains from His upper chambers,
That by His outbursts of water the earth might be satisfied.
WHO caused grass to spring up for cattle,

And herbage to the labour of mankind,

In order that they might bring forth bread from the earth,
In order that they might make their face to shine with oil.
The trees of Shadday have their fill.

The stork has her home in the cypresses.

The high mountains are for the wild goats.

The crags are a refuge for marmots.

WHO made the moon for seasons,

The sun to know his time of going down.

The young lions roar for prey,

And to seek their food from 'El.

When the sun rises, they gather themselves in,

And in their dens they lie down.

Man goeth forth to his work,

And to his labour until evening.

YONDER sea great and broad —

There are gliding things innumerable;

Living things, small together with great;

Leviathan which Thou didst form to play with.
The earth is full of Thy creatures.

All of them on Thee wait.

Thou givest to them: they gather it.

Thou openest Thy hand: they are satisfied.

THOU hidest Thy face: they are troubled.

Thou withdrawest their spirit: they expire.

Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit: they are created;
And Thou renewest the face of the ground.

The glory of Yahweh endureth forever.

Yahweh is glad in His works.

My musing is sweet unto Him:

I am glad in Yahweh.

Ps. 104 has no title in H, but in 67 Aaveld as 103, which is improbable. It is first of the group of Hallels 104-107. It is a Ps. in praise of Yahweh as creator. The order of creation is the same as Gn. 1-23, on which the Ps. is based. And yet it knows of the activity of the divine Spirit in creation of animals, and of death as due to the withdrawal of the Spirit, as Gn. 24-3. The author was thus familiar with both stories of the creation and probably in their combination in the Pentateuch in its present form. The author also knew of various other conceptions of the creation, as Am. 96 v.3; Is. 4022 v.;

Jb. 386-11, cf. Pr. 829, v.5-9, which he interweaves with that of Gn. 1. The Ps. therefore could not have been composed earlier than the Greek period.

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Str. I. Two tetrastichs, both beginning with a single line followed by a syn. tristich synthetic thereto.-1-2. The Ps. begins and concludes (v.), as several of the Hallels, with the liturgical phrase: Bless Yahweh, O my soul], cf. 1031.2. — My God], emphatic in position: personal address, intensified in by prefixing "Yahweh," still more in by using it twice; but the measure allows neither.- Thou art very great], pf. of state; as the context indicates, in power and glory.— With majesty and splendour Thou art clothed]. Royal attributes are here as elsewhere conceived as royal apparel, cf. 931 966. — Who put on]. The ptcs. characteristic of the Ps. must be given a uniform and harmonious explanation throughout. They might in some cases be explained as in present time; the creative and providential divine activities mingling in the mind of the poet, so that what God once did at the creation, He continues to do throughout all time. But many

of the ptcs. cannot be thus explained, even with the exceptions made by MT. of changing original ptcs. into pfs. The Ps. is throughout a poetic description of the creation of the world, based on Gn. 1, and retaining its order of six days' work with a supplementary seventh of rejoicing in a finished creation. We are compelled therefore to translate the ptcs. as referring to the past of the original creation. They serve to emphasize the divine activity in creation, rather than the result. We see it graphically in the process of creation, and not as in Gn. I in the result as an obedient servant of the divine command. - light as a garment]. Light, the first of the divine creations, appears as the garment which the Creator puts on, or wraps about Him, the expression of His attributes of majesty and glory. How different from Gn. 13 : "God said, 'Let light be !' and light was."— Who stretched out the heavens as a tent-curtain]. This is supplementary to the creation of light. As light is the divine garment, heaven is the tent which God stretches out as His dwelling-place, cf. Is. 402 Ps. 19.-3. Who laid in the waters the beams of His upper chambers]. This, as the subsequent v., evidently refers to the second day's work of creation. The waters originally covered the

earth when "God said, 'Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.' . . . And God called the expanse, Heaven" Gn. 168. The metaphor of a building is used in the Ps. as in Am. 9o. A series of stories are built up in the waters, the beams of one being laid upon the beams of the other in an ascending series; and so the upper waters were divided from the lower waters. Who made the clouds His chariot]. The clouds, so characteristic of the heavens and bearing in them the heavenly waters, constituted the divine chariot in which He moved about swiftly from place to place. This reminds a glossator of the cherubic chariot of Ps. 18, and so he adds: Who goeth about on the wings of the wind. 4. Who made His angels winds, His ministers fire and flame]. An ancient copyist, by omitting the conjunction, made grave difficulties of grammar. This rendering is essentially that of 6, V, Heb. 17, PBV., AV., and is most natural in itself. It is also in accord with the poet's previous thought. As God Himself is conceived as really present in nature, wrapping Himself in light, setting up His tent in the heavens, using the clouds as His chariot; so His angels, the ministrant spirits about Him, are made to assume the form of winds and lightnings. Doubtless the author had in mind a conception similar to that of the cherubic chariot of Ez. 1. But RV., JPSV., follow most moderns in their rendering: "Who maketh winds His messengers, His ministers a flaming fire"; thinking that the winds and the lightnings were constituted the ministering servants of Yahweh.

Str. II. A synth. and three syn. couplets.-5. Who founded the earth upon its bases]. This Str. begins the story of the third day's work of creation Gn. 1912. The poet turns from the upper stories of the building to the foundations. The earth is conceived as created by building upon well-settled foundations, as in Jb. 38+6 Pr. 825. 29. That it should not be moved forever and ever]. The earth was firmly established once for all, to be immutable forever. -6. The deep like a garment was its covering], so G, which is more probable than the vb. of H, followed by EV'., "Thou coveredst it," which involves an awkward change of construction. The primitive Tehom, "Deep," Gn. 12, covered the earth, which was buried in its depths even after the separation of the upper

waters from the lower by the expanse of heaven. - Above the mountains the waters stood]; even the highest mountain peaks were beneath the surface of these primeval waters.-7. At Thy rebuke At the sound of Thy thunder]. The voice of God speaking in the thunder of the storm, as He rides in His chariot with His angelic winds and lightnings, frightens the Deep and fills it with terror and the waters flee || haste away]. This graphic poetic description takes the place of the calm command, Gn. 19: "God said, 'Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear'; and it was so."- A glossator inserts a tetrameter couplet to intensify the description, thinking of the agitation of the sea in a storm: 8. They went up the mountains; they went down the valleys, Unto the place that Thou didst found for them], cf. 1072-2-9. That they might not pass the boundary Thou didst set]. This v. is directly dependent as a final clause on v.7. The waters fled hastily in terror to the boundary fixed for them by Yahweh, beyond which thereafter they dared not pass. The poet evidently had in mind Jb. 388-11 Pr. 829. – Might not return to cover the earth]. The separation of earth and sea was to be perpetual.

Str. III. Four synth. couplets. —10. Who sent forth springs into the valleys, That they might flow between the mountains]. The third day's work of Gn. 1 is really a double work: first, the separation of land and sea v.9-10; second, the creation of vegetation v.11-12. The latter is the theme of this and the subsequent Str. The author of Gn. 1 does not think of the streams, so essential to vegetable life. The poet supplies that defect, and emphasizes the refreshing streams.-11. That they might give drink to all the wild animals of the field]. The animals come in here prior to their creation, in order to emphasize the importance of these streams, which the poet conceives as belonging to this order of creation. That the onagers might break their thirst]. The specification of the beautiful wild ass may have been influenced by Jb. 3958.-12. That the birds of heaven might settle down], also final clause, dependent on v.10, to introduce the birds as dependent on water, as in the previous couplet the animals. The birds settle down, cf. 557, after their flight, on the banks of these

streams.

The introduction of "by them" by a glossator was

unnecessary, and it impairs the measure. - From among the branches give forth song]; having settled down in the branches of the trees by the streams, they utter their satisfaction in notes of song. -13. Who watered the mountains from His upper chambers]. The upper chambers are those framed in the upper waters v.3, where are the storm clouds and the lightnings. This must refer therefore to the rains descending upon the mountains. That by His outbursts of water the earth might be satisfied]. This is the most probable original in accordance with the context. The earth is satisfied with the rains, as the mountains are watered by them. The waters come from the upper chambers and from outbursts of these waters in storms. An ancient copyist mistook the form for "fruit," and then was obliged to explain it by the addition of "Thy works"; but it is difficult to see how these words can refer to the rain.

Str. IV. Four syn. couplets.-14-15. Who caused grass to spring up for cattle]. The poet, after giving the previous Str. to the fructifying streams, now takes up the vegetation of the third day's work; and first of all the grass for the cattle, then-herbage to the labour of mankind]. The poet here combines with the narrative of the creation, Gn. 11-12, the thought of Gn. 317-19, the necessity of human labour in the ground, in order to win the products necessary for subsistence. In order that they might bring forth bread from the earth], dependent upon the previous clause, and defining the herbage as the grain out of which bread is made. To this is added the cultivation of the olive tree for its precious oil: In order that they might make their faces to shine with oil]. While the oil is used for anointing the head, especially at feasts 235, it is also used to soften and smooth the skin of other parts of the body as well as the face. The oil is mentioned probably because it is the product of a tree that needs cultivation. The original limited itself to these; but a glossator thought that wine could not be omitted, and so he inserted: and wine that gladdeneth the heart of man, cf. Ec. 101. — It is difficult to see why any one should have added the variant of v.14, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart, which is evidently from the same hand as v.15-16. The trees of Shadday], gigantic trees, cf. 36'. This reading alone explains the variation of "trees of the field,"

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