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Selected Verse: Psalms 104:3 - New American Standard Bible©
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ps 104:3 |
New American Standard Bible© |
He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks upon the wings of the wind; |
|
King James |
Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind: |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
in the waters--or, it may be "with"; using this fluid for the beams, or frames, of His residence accords with the figure of clouds for chariots, and wind as a means of conveyance.
walketh--or, "moveth" (compare Psa 18:10-11; Amo 9:6). |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
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," Act 1:13; Act 9:37, Act 9:39; Act 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 Gen 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 Isa 19:1. Compare the notes at Psa 18:11.
Who walketh upon the wings of the wind - See the notes at Psa 18:10. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
Waters - In the waters above the heavens, as they are called, Gen 1:7. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
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. |
6 The One who builds His upper chambers in the heavens And has founded His vaulted dome over the earth, He who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth, The LORD is His name.
10 He rode upon a cherub and flew; And He sped upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
10 He rode upon a cherub and flew; And He sped upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
1 The oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
6 Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."
7 God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together.
39 So Peter arose and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him into the upper room; and all the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them.
37 And it happened at that time that she fell sick and died; and when they had washed her body, they laid it in an upper room.
13 When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.
7 God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.