Psalm 104:32 - Printer Friendly

ESV: who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke!

NIV: he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

NASB: He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smoke.

CSB: He looks at the earth, and it trembles; he touches the mountains, and they pour out smoke.

NLT: The earth trembles at his glance; the mountains smoke at his touch.

KJV: He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.

NKJV: He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the hills, and they smoke.

Psalm 104:31–35 closes the song with praise and resolve. The psalmist intends to worship God for the rest of his life. He also aspires to keep his thoughts aligned with the Lord and the Lord's will. As part of this commitment, the psalmist prays that God would remove evil people from the world. This psalm ends with the Bible's first use of the term "hallelujah."

The psalmist praises the Lord for His creation. God is credited with establishing the earth, setting boundaries for bodies of water, and providing water and food for animals and human beings. What God has made includes proper living spaces for all sorts of life. He set the motions of the sun and moon. All creation owes its existence to God's Spirit. The psalmist resolves to continue praising the Lord while hoping that the wicked will be removed from earth.

Psalms 103 and 104 begin with the same phrase but have different themes. The prior text emphasized God's loyal love for His people. Psalm 104 focuses on the Lord as Creator. This psalm echoes ideas also seen in Genesis 1—2 but does not follow the creation account directly. Of the psalms, this is the most detailed and overt in discussing God's work in creation. Other psalms discuss the subject briefly (Psalm 8; 19; 24; 65; 95; 102; 121; 147).

The book of Psalms is composed of individual songs, hymns, or poems, each of which is a ''Psalm'' in and of itself. These works contain a wide variety of themes. Some Psalms focus on praising and worshipping God. Others cry out in anguish over the pain of life. Still other Psalms look forward to the coming of the Messiah. While some Psalms are related, each has its own historical and biblical context.

Accessed 11/25/2024 5:00:39 AM