Gustave Doré’s engraving of David standing crowned and bowed as he mourns Absalom

Psalm 104

One of the psalms St Athanasius said to pray when God has slipped into the background, in a letter from the 300s.

  • 35Verses
  • 2Situations

St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus

When to pray it

In the 300s, St Athanasius of Alexandria wrote a letter to his friend Marcellinus about praying the Psalms. In it he matched psalms to what people go through. He named this one more than once.

God has slipped into the background, and you want to wake your soul up to Him again.

Because we ought to give thanks to God through everything and in everything, when you want to bless Him you can stir up your own soul with Psalms 103 and 104: "Bless the LORD, O my soul."

Letter to Marcellinus

For this, the quiz gives Psalm 103, and this psalm beside it.

You want to thank God, in and through everything.

Because we ought to give thanks to God through everything and in everything, when you want to bless Him you can stir up your own soul with Psalms 103 and 104.

Letter to Marcellinus

For this, the quiz gives Psalm 103, and this psalm beside it.

35 verses, Berean Standard Bible

The whole psalm

Psalm 104

  1. 1Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty.
  2. 2He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent,
  3. 3laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.
  4. 4He makes the winds His messengers, flames of fire His servants.
  5. 5He set the earth on its foundations, never to be moved.
  6. 6You covered it with the deep like a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
  7. 7At Your rebuke the waters fled; at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away—
  8. 8the mountains rose and the valleys sank to the place You assigned for them—
  9. 9You set a boundary they cannot cross, that they may never again cover the earth.
  10. 10He sends forth springs in the valleys; they flow between the mountains.
  11. 11They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
  12. 12The birds of the air nest beside the springs; they sing among the branches.
  13. 13He waters the mountains from His chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of His works.
  14. 14He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth:
  15. 15wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart.
  16. 16The trees of the LORD have their fill, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted,
  17. 17where the birds build their nests; the stork makes her home in the cypresses.
  18. 18The high mountains are for the wild goats, the cliffs a refuge for the rock badgers.
  19. 19He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows when to set.
  20. 20You bring darkness, and it becomes night, when all the beasts of the forest prowl.
  21. 21The young lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.
  22. 22The sun rises, and they withdraw; they lie down in their dens.
  23. 23Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until evening.
  24. 24How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.
  25. 25Here is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number, living things both great and small.
  26. 26There the ships pass, and Leviathan, which You formed to frolic there.
  27. 27All creatures look to You to give them their food in due season.
  28. 28When You give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good things.
  29. 29When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust.
  30. 30When You send Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth.
  31. 31May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in His works.
  32. 32He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smolder.
  33. 33I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
  34. 34May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the LORD.
  35. 35May sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more. Bless the LORD, O my soul. Hallelujah!

Psalm 104 is 103 in the Greek numbering Athanasius used, which Orthodox Bibles and some older Catholic ones still follow.

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Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Athanasius’s advice is paraphrased from his Greek.