Bible Strands
Psalms 104:13
He waters the mountains from His chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of His works.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses Israel’s worshiping community within a creation hymn, marking the transition between birds nesting and crops being prepared for humanity. The moment captures a continuous divine action rather than a single historical event.
The words — The Hebrew מַשְׁקֶה (mashkeh) literally means "[he is] watering," paired with עֲלִיּוֹתָיו ('aliyyotav), rendered as "upper rooms" or "chambers." This construction presents God’s provision as a direct pouring from elevated spaces.
The thread — The motif of God supplying water to the earth appears in Psalms 147:8 and Jeremiah 10:13, where clouds and heavenly waters bring rain. Jeremiah 14:22 contrasts this divine action with the inability of idols to send showers.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge that ecological satisfaction depends on direct divine action rather than autonomous natural processes. It demands a clear recognition that sustenance originates from God’s active work.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
Cross-references
- Psalms 147:8 who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the hills.
- Jeremiah 10:13 When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.
- Jeremiah 14:22 Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies alone send showers? Is this not by You, O LORD our God? So we put our hope in You, for You have done all these things.
- Deuteronomy 11:11 But the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in the rain from heaven.
- Job 38:25 Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt,
- Job 38:37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens
- Psalms 65:9 You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth.
- Psalms 104:3 laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.
- Amos 9:6 He builds His upper rooms in the heavens and founds His vault upon the earth. He summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth. The LORD is His name.
- Matthew 5:45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.