Psalms 104:24-26

104:24 How many living things you have made, O Lord! 1 

You have exhibited great skill in making all of them; 2 

the earth is full of the living things you have made.

104:25 Over here is the deep, wide sea, 3 

which teems with innumerable swimming creatures, 4 

living things both small and large.

104:26 The ships travel there,

and over here swims the whale 5  you made to play in it.

1 tn Heb “How many [are] your works, O Lord.” In this case the Lord’s “works” are the creatures he has made, as the preceding and following contexts make clear.

2 tn Heb “all of them with wisdom you have made.”

3 tn Heb “this [is] the sea, great and broad of hands [i.e., “sides” or “shores”].”

4 tn Heb “where [there are] swimming things, and without number.”

5 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.