Psalmen 104

¹Give praise to the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great; you are robed with honour and power.
²You are clothed with light as with a robe; stretching out the heavens like a curtain:
³The arch of your house is based on the waters; you make the clouds your carriage; you go on the wings of the wind:
⁴He makes winds his angels, and flames of fire his servants.
⁵He has made the earth strong on its bases, so that it may not be moved for ever and ever;
⁶Covering it with the sea as with a robe: the waters were high over the mountains;
⁷At the voice of your word they went in flight; at the sound of your thunder they went away in fear;
⁸The mountains came up and the valleys went down into the place which you had made ready for them.
⁹You made a limit over which they might not go, so that the earth would never again be covered by them.
¹⁰You sent the springs into the valleys; they are flowing between the hills.
¹¹They give drink to every beast of the field; the mountain asses come to them for water.
¹²The birds of the air have their resting-places by them, and make their song among the branches.
¹³He sends down rain from his store-houses on the hills: the earth is full of the fruit of his works.
¹⁴He makes the grass come up for the cattle, and plants for the use of man; so that bread may come out of the earth;
¹⁵And wine to make glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face shining, and bread giving strength to his heart.
¹⁶The trees of the Lord are full of growth, the cedars of Lebanon of his planting;
¹⁷Where the birds have their resting-places; as for the stork, the tall trees are her house.
¹⁸The high hills are a safe place for the mountain goats, and the rocks for the small beasts.
¹⁹He made the moon for a sign of the divisions of the year; teaching the sun the time of its going down.
²⁰When you make it dark, it is night, when all the beasts of the woods come quietly out of their secret places.
²¹The young lions go thundering after their food; searching for their meat from God.
²²The sun comes up, and they come together, and go back to their secret places to take their rest.
²³Man goes out to his work, and to his business, till the evening.
²⁴O Lord, how great is the number of your works! in wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of the things you have made.
²⁵There is the great, wide sea, where there are living things, great and small, more than may be numbered.
²⁶There go the ships; there is that great beast, which you have made as a plaything.
²⁷All of them are waiting for you, to give them their food in its time.
²⁸They take what you give them; they are full of the good things which come from your open hand.
²⁹If your face is veiled, they are troubled; when you take away their breath, they come to an end, and go back to the dust.
³⁰If you send out your spirit, they are given life; you make new the face of the earth.
³¹Let the glory of the Lord be for ever; let the Lord have joy in his works:
³²At whose look the earth is shaking; at whose touch the mountains send out smoke.
³³I will make songs to the Lord all my life; I will make melody to my God while I have my being.
³⁴Let my thoughts be sweet to him: I will be glad in the Lord.
³⁵Let sinners be cut off from the earth, and let all evil-doers come to an end. Give praise to the Lord, O my soul. Give praise to the Lord.

Public Domain