Discovery BoxPsalms 104:24-30 
Context104:24 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.
104:27 All of your creatures 6 wait for you
to provide them with food on a regular basis. 7
104:28 You give food to them and they receive it;
you open your hand and they are filled with food. 8
104:29 When you ignore them, they panic. 9
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.
1 tn Heb “How many [are] your works, O
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.
6 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.
7 tn Heb “to give their food in its time.”
8 tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] good.”
9 tn Heb “you hide your face, they are terrified.”
