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Holy Week · Easter Vigil · Year C

Psalm 104:1-2, 5-6, 10+12, 13-14, 24+35 (30) or Psalm 33:4-5, 6-7, 12-13, 20-22 (5b)

How Many Are Your Works, O Lord

April 15, 2028

Chaos. The Creation of the World, Ivan Aivazovsky
Chaos. The Creation of the World, Ivan Aivazovsky, 1841Mekhitarist Monastery, San Lazzaro degli Armeni, Venice
Aivazovsky, the great painter of the sea, here paints light breaking over formless water. He gave it to the Armenian monastery in Venice where he had been at school.O Lord my God, you are very great. You stretch out the heavens like a tent; you set the earth on its foundations.Ivan AivazovskyA Russian-Armenian marine painter (1817-1900) who produced around six thousand pictures of the sea, almost all of them from memory rather than from studies.Mekhitarist Monastery, San Lazzaro degli Armeni, VeniceAn Armenian Catholic monastery on its own island in the Venetian lagoon, with a library of Armenian manuscripts and a printing press.Mekhitarist Monastery, San Lazzaro degli Armeni, Venice
Roman Lectionary
GospelLuke 24:1-12Lk 24:1-12
Second ReadingRom. 6:3-11Rom 6:3-11
First ReadingGen. 1:1–2:2Gn 1:1–2:2 orGen. 1:1, 26-31aGn 1:1, 26-31a
Responsorial PsalmPs. 104:1-2, 5-6, 10+12, 13-14, 24+35 (30)Ps 104:1-2, 5-6, 10+12, 13-14, 24+35 (30) orPs. 33:4-5, 6-7, 12-13, 20-22 (5b)Ps 33:4-5, 6-7, 12-13, 20-22 (5b)

Overview & Insights

“O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all.” (Psalm 104:24)

Psalm 104 hymns Yahweh as Creator. Every four or five verses (or lines of Hb. poetry) appear to be marked off by repeated terms and to treat a distinct realm of creation (vv. 1–4, 5–9, 10–13, 14–18, 19–23, 24–26, 27–30, 31–35; see further Allen, Psalms 101–150 , pp. 31–32). The psalm is very cosmopolitan, echoing motifs from Israelite creation traditions (e.g., Gen. 1, showing both parallels and contrasts), wisdom traditions, Canaanite Baal imagery, and the Egyptian “Hymn to Aton” (written in the mid-fourteenth century; see ANET , pp. 369–71). It therefore demonstrates in the language of the ancient culture that Yahweh is the true divine King over creation.

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Take it further: Psalm 104:1-2, 5-6, 10+12, 13-14, 24+35 (30) or Psalm 33:4-5, 6-7, 12-13, 20-22 (5b)

Commentary

Enduring Word Bible Commentary Psalm 104Enduring Word Bible Commentary Ps 104 Enduring Word · David Guzik

David Guzik's exposition of the great creation hymn that echoes the Vigil's Genesis reading.

Psalm 104:1 CommentariesPs 104:1 Commentaries BibleHub

Aggregated classic commentaries on the psalm's praise of God the Creator and Sustainer.

Background & Word Study

Sefaria: Psalms 104 (Hebrew and English)Sefaria: Ps 104 (Hebrew and English) Sefaria

The Hebrew text of the creation psalm with translations and linked Jewish commentary.

Psalm 104:1 Hebrew InterlinearPs 104:1 Hebrew Interlinear BibleHub

Hebrew-English interlinear for word-level study of the psalm's language of creation and praise.

The Church Fathers

Catena Bible: Psalm 104Catena Bible: Ps 104 Catena

Patristic comment on the psalm's celebration of the Creator's works and the renewing Spirit.

Questions preachers ask

What does Psalm 104 praise?

A hymn to the Creator who clothes himself in light and sustains every creature; when he sends his Spirit they are created, and he renews the face of the ground.

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