Psalms 104:3

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

Who lays the beams of his chambers in the waters: who makes the clouds his chariot: who walks on the wings of the wind:

American King James Version (AKJV)

Who lays the beams of his chambers in the waters: who makes the clouds his chariot: who walks on the wings of the wind:

American Standard Version (ASV)

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; Who maketh the clouds his chariot; Who walketh upon the wings of the wind;

Basic English Translation (BBE)

The arch of your house is based on the waters; you make the clouds your carriage; you go on the wings of the wind:

Webster's Revision

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:

World English Bible

He lays the beams of his rooms in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind.

English Revised Version (ERV)

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; who maketh the clouds his chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the wind:

Clarke's Psalms 104:3 Bible Commentary

המקרה במים עליותיו hamekareh bammayim aliyothaiv.

"Laying the beams of his chambers in the waters."

The sacred writer expresses the wonderful nature of the air aptly, and regularly constructed, from various and flux elements, into one continued and stable series, by a metaphor drawn from the singular formation of the tabernacle, which, consisting of many and different parts, and easily reparable when there was need, was kept together by a perpetual juncture and contignation of them all together. The poet goes on: -

השם עבים רכובו hassem abim rechubo,

המהלך על כנפי רוה hamehallech al canphey ruach.

"Making the clouds his chariot,

Walking upon the wings of the wind."

He had first expressed an image of the Divine Majesty, such as it resided in the holy of holies, discernible by a certain investiture of the most splendid light; he now denotes the same from that light of itself which the Divine Majesty exhibited, when it moved together with the ark, sitting on a circumambient cloud, and carried on high through the air. That seat of the Divine Presence is even called by the sacred historians, as its proper name, המרכבה hammercabah, The Chariot.

Barnes's Psalms 104:3 Bible Commentary

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters - The word here rendered "layeth" - from קרה qârâh - means properly to meet; then, in Hiphil, to cause to meet, or to fit into each other, as beams or joists do in a dwelling. It is a word which would be properly applied to the construction of a house, and to the right adjustment of the different materials employed in building it. The word rendered "beams" - עליה ‛ălı̂yâh - means "an upper chamber, a loft," such as rises, in Oriental houses, above the flat roof; in the New Testament, the ὑπερῷον huperōon, rendered "upper room," Acts 1:13; Acts 9:37, Acts 9:39; Acts 20:8. It refers here to the chamber - the exalted abode of God - as if raised above all other edifices, or above the world. The word "waters" here refers to the description of the creation in Genesis 1:6-7 - the waters "above the firmament," and the waters "below the firmament." The allusion here is to the waters above the firmament; and the meaning is, that God had constructed the place of his own abode - the room where he dwelt - in those waters; that is, in the most exalted place in the universe. It does not mean that he made it of the waters, but that his home - his dwelling-place - was in or above those waters, as if he had built his dwelling not on solid earth or rock, but in the waters, giving stability to that which seems to have no stability, and making the very waters a foundation for the structure of his abode.

Who maketh the clouds his chariot - Who rides on the clouds as in a chariot. See the notes at Isaiah 19:1. Compare the notes at Psalm 18:11.

Who walketh upon the wings of the wind - See the notes at Psalm 18:10.

Psalm 104:3'I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven' Daniel 7:13. So the Saviour is represented as coming to judgment in the clouds of heaven Matthew 24:30. Compare the sublime description in Habakkuk 3:3-10.

And the idols of Egypt - It is well known that Egypt was celebrated for its idolatry. They worshipped chiefly the heavenly bodies; but they worshipped also all kinds of animals, probably as living symbols of their gods. "Shall be moved." That is, shall tremble, be agitated, alarmed; or shall be removed from their place, and overthrown. The word will bear either construction. Vitringa inclines to the latter.

And the heart of Egypt - The strength; the courage; the rigor. We use the word "heart" in the same sense now, when we speak of a stout heart; a courageous heart, etc.

continued...

Wesley's Psalms 104:3 Bible Commentary

104:3 Waters - In the waters above the heavens, as they are called, Gen 1:7.

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