Mazmur 104:26-35

104:26 The ships travel there,

and over here swims the whale ¹  you made to play in it.

104:27 All of your creatures ²  wait for you

to provide them with food on a regular basis. ³ 

104:28 You give food to them and they receive it;

you open your hand and they are filled with food. ⁴ 

104:29 When you ignore them, they panic. ⁵ 

When you take away their life’s breath, they die

and return to dust.

104:30 When you send your life-giving breath, they are created,

and you replenish the surface of the ground.

104:31 May the splendor of the Lord endure! ⁶ 

May the Lord find pleasure in the living things he has made! ⁷ 

104:32 He looks down on the earth and it shakes;

he touches the mountains and they start to smolder.

104:33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist! ⁸ 

104:34 May my thoughts ⁹  be pleasing to him!

I will rejoice in the Lord.

104:35 May sinners disappear ¹⁰  from the earth,

and the wicked vanish!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord!

[104:26]  ¹ tn Heb “[and] this Leviathan, [which] you formed to play in it.” Elsewhere Leviathan is a multiheaded sea monster that symbolizes forces hostile to God (see Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1), but here it appears to be an actual marine creature created by God, probably some type of whale.

[104:27]  ² tn Heb “All of them.” The pronoun “them” refers not just to the sea creatures mentioned in vv. 25-26, but to all living things (see v. 24). This has been specified in the translation as “all of your creatures” for clarity.

[104:27]  ³ tn Heb “to give their food in its time.”

[104:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] good.”

[104:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “you hide your face, they are terrified.”

[104:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “be forever.”

[104:31]  ⁷ tn Or “rejoice in his works.”

[104:33]  ⁸ tn Heb “in my duration.”

[104:34]  ⁹ tn That is, the psalmist’s thoughts as expressed in his songs of praise.

[104:35]  ¹⁰ tn Or “be destroyed.”