Bible Strands
Psalms 104:29
When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God directly within a poetic sequence describing creation's dependence on divine provision. The speaker contrasts God's sustaining gift in the preceding verse with His power to revoke life in the following one.
The words — The Hebrew תַּסְתִּיר (tas.Tir) literally means "you hide," coupled with פָּנֶיךָ (pa.nei./Kha), "your face," to describe divine concealment. The verb תּוֹסֵף (to.Sef) means "you withdraw," paired with ר֫וּחָם (Ru.cho/m), "their breath," to mark the moment of death.
The thread — The text describes the immediate mechanism of mortality: divine withdrawal of breath causes terror, death, and a return to dust. This sequence echoes the withdrawal of Spirit and breath in Job 34:14, the dust-to-ground return in Ecclesiastes 12:7, and the breath-departure to the ground in Psalm 146:4.
Why it lands — The passage states that human life persists only through God's active sustenance and ends when that sustenance ceases. It requires the reader to accept that mortality is not a natural accident but a direct result of divine permission, demanding reliance on ongoing providence rather than self-sufficiency.
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
Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
Cross-references
- Job 34:14 If He were to set His heart to it and withdraw His Spirit and breath,
- Ecclesiastes 12:7 before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
- Psalms 146:4 When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.
- Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
- Psalms 30:7 O LORD, You favored me; You made my mountain stand strong. When You hid Your face, I was dismayed.
- Psalms 90:3 You return man to dust, saying, “Return, O sons of mortals.”
- Acts 17:25 Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
- Job 10:9 Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?
- Deuteronomy 31:17 On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’
- Job 13:24 Why do You hide Your face and consider me as Your enemy?