Psalm 104:33-35 NKJV
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
34
May my meditation be sweet to Him;
I will be glad in the Lord.
35
May sinners be consumed from the earth,
And the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Praise the Lord!
Charles Spurgeon
“I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live,” or, literally, in my lives. Here and hereafter the psalmist would continue to praise the Lord, for the theme is an endless one, and remains for ever fresh and new. The birds sang God’s praises before men were created, but redeemed men will sing his glories when the birds are no more. Jehovah, whoever lives and makes us to live shall be forever exalted and extolled in the songs of redeemed men.
“My meditation of him shall be sweet.” Sweet both to him and to me. I shall be delighted thus to survey his works and think of his person, and he will graciously accept my notes of praise. Meditation is the soul of religion. It is the tree of life in the midst of the garden of piety, and very refreshing is its fruit to the soul which feeds thereon. And as it is good towards man, so is it towards God. As the fat of the sacrifice was the Lord’s portion, so are our best meditations due to the Most High and are most acceptable to him. We ought, therefore, both for our own good and for the Lord’s honor to be much occupied with meditation, and that meditation should chiefly dwell upon the Lord himself: it should be “meditation of him.” For want of it, much communion is lost and much happiness is missed.
“I will be glad in the Lord.” To the meditative mind, every thought of God is full of joy. Each one of the divine attributes is a wellspring of delight now that in Christ Jesus we are reconciled unto God.
“Bless thou the LORD, O my soul.” Here is the end of the matter—whatever sinners may do, do thou, my soul, stand to thy colors, and be true to thy calling. Their silence must not silence thee but rather provoke thee to redoubled praise to make up for their failures. Nor canst thou alone accomplish the work; others must come to thy help. O ye saints,
“Praise ye the LORD.” Let your hearts cry HALLELUJAH,—for that is the word in the Hebrew. Heavenly word! Let it close the Psalm: for what more remains to be said or written? HALLELUJAH. Praise ye the Lord.
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Enduring Word
I will sing to the LORD as long as I live: This remarkable psalm has little or no focus on God as redeemer and savior. Its focus is on the greatness and goodness of God as displayed in creation. Yet that was enough to make the psalmist determined to say I will sing to the LORD as long as I live. The God of all creation is worthy of our life-long praise. (Guzik)
i. “As far as he was concerned, an entire lifetime of praise would be insufficient to honor God properly.” (Boice)
ii. This again shows the importance of knowing God as Creator. The rejection of God as Creator has had deep and terrible effects upon the hearts and minds of the modern world. (Guzik)
May my meditation be sweet to Him: The psalmist understood that God is also worshipped by our thoughts. What we choose to set our mind on is a measure of what we truly value. Knowing the greatness and goodness of God as revealed in creation, the psalmist wanted his thoughts to be pleasing to God. (Guzik)
I will be glad in the LORD: We again sense a note of determination. He chose to be glad in the LORD, making a rational choice in light of God’s revelation of Himself through creation. (Guzik)
May sinners be consumed from the earth: This seems a strange and solemn declaration in this psalm. Yet it is the logical consequence for those who reject God as Creator. Paul later developed this thought in Romans 1, speaking of the guilt and consequences due to those who reject God as Creator and worship the creature rather than the Creator. (Guzik)
i. “The psalmist is not vindictive in his prayer against the wicked but longs for a world fully established and maintained by the Lord, without outside interference.” (VanGemeren)
e. Bless the LORD, O my soul: The psalmist was compelled to consider the dark consequences due to those who rejected the Creator God, but he could not end this remarkable psalm on a dark note. He ends with another rousing call to His own soul to bless the LORD, and to praise the LORD. This is the fitting response of the creature to the Creator. (Guzik)
i. Praise the LORD: “This is the first psalm which closes with Hallelujah (Praise Jehovah).” (Maclaren)
ii. “This is the first occurrence of hallelujah in the Psalter, and it is significant that it is joined to a prayer for the destruction of the wicked, just as it is in Revelation 19.” (Boice)
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Barnes
My meditation of him shall be sweet – That is, I will find pleasure in meditating on his character and works. See the notes at Psalms 1:2. It is one of the characteristics of true piety that there is a “disposition” to think about God; that the mind is “naturally” drawn to that subject; that it does not turn away from it, when it is suggested; that this fills up the intervals of business in the day-time, and that it occupies the mind when wakeful at night. Psalms 63:6. It is also a characteristic of true piety that there is “pleasure” in such meditations; happiness in thinking of God. The sinner has no such pleasure. The thought of God is painful to him; he does not desire to have it suggested to him; he turns away from it, and avoids it. Compare the notes at Isaiah 30:11. It is one of the evidences of true piety when a man “begins” to find pleasure in thinking about God; when the subject, instead of being unpleasant to him, becomes pleasant; when he no longer turns away from it but is sensible of a desire to cherish the thought of God and to know more of him.
I will be glad in the Lord – That is, I will rejoice that there is such a Being; I will seek my happiness in him as my God.
Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth – Compare Psalms 37:38. This might with propriety be rendered, “Consumed are the sinners out of the earth,” expressing a fact and not a desire; and it may have been prompted by the feeling of the psalmist that such an event would occur; that is, that the time would come when sin would no more abound, but when the world would be filled with righteousness, and all the dwellers on the earth would praise God. The word translated “consumed” – from תמם tâmam – means properly to complete, to perfect, to finish, to cease. It does not mean “consume” in the sense of being burned up – as our word means – or destroyed, but merely to come to an end, to cease, to pass away: that is; Let the time soon come – or, the time will soon come – when there will be no sinners on the earth, but when all the inhabitants of the earth will worship and honor God. The “connection” here seems to be this: The psalmist was himself so filled with the love of God, and with admiration of his works, that he desired that all might partake of the same feeling; and he looked forward, therefore, as those who love God must do, to the time when all the dwellers on earth would see his glory, and when there should be none who did not adore and love him. All that is “fairly” implied in the wish of the psalmist here would be accomplished if all sinners were converted, and if, in that sense, there were to be no more transgressors in the world.
And let the wicked be no more – Let there not be any more wicked persons; let the time come when there shall be no bad people on the earth, but when all shall be righteous. In this prayer, all persons could properly unite.
Bless thou the Lord, O my soul – The psalm closes (as Psalms 103:0 does) as it began. The psalmist commenced with the expression of a purpose to bless God; it closes with the same purpose, confirmed by a survey of the wonderful works of God.
Praise ye the Lord – Hebrew, Hallelu-jah. The psalmist expresses the earnest desire of a truly pious heart (in looking upon a world so beautiful, so varied in its works, so full of the expressions of the wisdom and goodness of God – a world where all the inferior creation so completely carries out the purpose of the Creator), that man, the noblest of all the works of God, might unite with the world around and beneath him in carrying out the great purpose of the creation – so that he might, in his own proper place, and according to the powers with which he is endowed, acknowledge God. How beautiful – how sublime – would be the spectacle on earth, if man accomplished the purpose of his creation, and filled his place, as well as the springs, the hills, the trees, the fowls, the wild goats, the moon, the sun, the young lions, and the inhabitants of the “great and wide sea” do in their spheres! Oh, come the time when on earth there shall be harmony in all the works of God, and when all creatures here shall carry out the purpose which was contemplated when God called the earth into existence.
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Matthew Henry
The psalmist will himself be much in praising him (v. 33): “I will sing unto the Lord, unto my God, will praise him as Jehovah, the Creator, and as my God, a God in covenant with me, and this not now only, but as long as I live, and while I have my being.” Because we have our being from God, and depend upon him for the support and continuance of it, as long as we live and have our being we must continue to praise God; and when we have no life, no being, on earth, we hope to have a better life and better being in a better world and there to be doing this work in a better manner and in better company.
Joy to himself (v. 34): My meditation of him shall be sweet; it shall be fixed and close; it shall be affecting and influencing; and therefore it shall be sweet. Thoughts of God will then be most pleasing when they are most powerful. Note, Divine meditation is a very sweet duty to all that are sanctified: “I will be glad in the Lord; it shall be a pleasure to me to praise him; I will be glad of all opportunities to set forth his glory; and I will rejoice in the Lord always and in him only.” All my joys shall center in him, and in him they shall be full.
“While sinners are consumed out of the earth, let my soul bless the Lord that I am not cast away with the workers of iniquity, but distinguished from them by the special grace of God. When the wicked are no more I hope to be praising God’s world without end; and therefore, Praise you the Lord; let all about me join with me in praising God. Hallelujah; sing praise to Jehovah.” This is the first time that we meet with Hallelujah, and it comes in here upon occasion of the destruction of the wicked, and the last time we meet with it is upon a similar occasion. When the New Testament Babylon is consumed, this is the burden of the song, Hallelujah, Rev. 19:1, 3, 4, 6.
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Geneva Bible 1560
Psalm 104:33-35
33 I wil sing unto the Lord all my life: I wil praise my God, while I live.
34 Let my words be acceptable unto him: I wil rejoyce in the Lord.
35 Let the sinners be s consumed out of the earth, and the wicked till there be no more: ô my soul, praise thou the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
s Who infect the world, and so cause God that he can can’t rejoice in his works.
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Numbers 6:24-26 NKJV
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