Passage

Psalms 104.3

Book: Psalms · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

Bless Jehovah, O my soul. O Jehovah my God, thou art very great; Thou art clothed with honor and majesty: 2. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment; Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain;

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

Who maketh winds his messengers; Flames of fire his ministers; 5. Who laid the foundations of the earth, That it should not be moved for ever. (Psalms 104:1-5, ASV)

WEB

Bless Yahweh, my soul. Yahweh, my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty. 2. He covers himself with light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.

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

He makes his messengers winds; his servants flames of fire. 5. He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever. (Psalms 104:1-5, WEB)

KJV

Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. 2. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:

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

Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: 5. Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. ^{Who: Heb. He hath founded the earth upon her bases} (Psalms 104:1-5, KJV)

YLT

Bless, O my soul, Jehovah! Jehovah, my God, Thou hast been very great, Honour and majesty Thou hast put on. 2. Covering himself [with] light as a garment, Stretching out the heavens as a curtain,

3. Who is laying the beam of His upper chambers in the waters, Who is making thick clouds His chariot, Who is walking on wings of wind,

Making His messengers, the winds, His ministers, the flaming fire. 5. He hath founded earth on its bases, It is not moved to the age and for ever. (Psalms 104:1-5, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: An unnamed psalmist. The Hebrew text carries no title; the Greek Septuagint attributes the psalm to David
Audience: Addressed to Jehovah in praise (104:1), and sung in Israel's worship
Location: Not stated
Time period: Not stated; the psalm cannot be dated with confidence

Theological reading

"Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; Who maketh the clouds his chariot; Who walketh upon the wings of the wind." The verse is part of the psalm's opening picture of God as a king building and furnishing his house (104:1-4).

The images. God is clothed in light and stretches out the heavens "like a curtain," a tent (104:2). He lays the beams of his upper rooms on the waters above the sky (104:3). The clouds are his chariot. The word for "chariot" here (Strong's H7398) occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament. The next line, "Who maketh winds his messengers; Flames of fire his ministers" (104:4), is quoted in Hebrews 1:7 to set the angels below the Son; see Hebrews 1.6-8.

The cloud-rider. Ugaritic texts from the Late Bronze Age give the storm god Baal the title "rider of the clouds," and scholars widely see Israel's poets claiming that image for Jehovah. The same picture appears in Isaiah 19:1, "Jehovah rideth upon a swift cloud" (ASV). In the Old Testament, riding the clouds is something God does.

Daniel's son of man. That is why the Rabbinic Judaism vs the Christian God comparison cites this verse alongside Daniel 7:13, where "one like unto a son of man" comes "with the clouds of heaven" and receives everlasting dominion. Jewish interpreters have read that figure in more than one way. Some rabbinic sources take him as the Messiah. Many, ancient and modern, take him as a symbol of the faithful of Israel, since the chapter goes on to give the kingdom to "the saints of the Most High" (7:18, 27). Christians note that Jesus answered the high priest by combining Daniel 7:13 with Psalm 110:1, "ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven" (Mark 14:62, ASV), and that the reply was judged blasphemy. Cloud imagery alone does not prove a figure divine. It is one strand in a cumulative case. See Son of Man Title and Cumulative Case for the Deity of Christ.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

H7307 - ruach, ruach, Strong's H7307

Quoted in

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Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.