Psalms 104:27
in Psalms 104All creatures look to You to give them their food in due season.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
These wait all for thee, That thou mayest give them their food in due season.
KJV
These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
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This verse in Psalms 104
Commentary
12 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The entire dependence of this immense family on God is set forth. With Him, to kill or make alive is equally easy. To hide His face is to withdraw favor (Ps 13:1).
This site's exposition
All creatures look to You
on Psalms 104:27-30
Everything in the psalm hangs on one hand. When it opens they eat; when the face turns away they are terrified; when the breath is taken they return to dust. The Spirit sent at verse 30 is the Spirit of Genesis 1:2, and He renews the face of the earth.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
Dost thou wish to see how incapable he is of hurting thee, unless permitted? "These," he saith, "wait all upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them meat in due season." And this serpent wisheth to devour, but he devoureth not whom he wisheth. ...Thou hast heard what the serpent's meat is. Thou dost not wish that God give thee to be devoured by the serpent; because not the serpent's food: i.e. forsake not the Word of God. For where it is said to the serpent, "Dust thou shalt eat," it is said to the transgressor, "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shall return." Thou dost not wish to be the serpent's food? be not dust. How, thou repliest, shall I not be dust? If thou hast not a taste for earthly things. Hear the Apostle, that thou mayest not be dust. For the body which thou wearest is earth: but do thou refuse to be earth. What meaneth this? "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." If thou dost not set thy affections on earthly things, thou art not earth: if thou art not earth, thou art not devoured by the serpent, whose appointed food is earth. The Lord giveth the serpent his food when He will, what He will: but He judgeth rightly, he cannot be deceived, He giveth him not gold for earth. "When Thou hast given it them, they gather it." ...
Therefore, let us all gaze upon Him, that He may feed our starving souls, He who hungered for us, who became poor though He was rich, that we might be enriched by His poverty. Just before this, we appropriately sang to Him: "All things look to You to give them their food at the proper time." If all things, then all of us. If all of us, then we too. Therefore, if we are to offer anything good in speech, it is not we who give it, but He from whom we all receive, because we all expect from Him. The time is right, let Him give, but let us do what He said to receive, that is, let us expect from Him. Let us gaze upon Him with our hearts. Just as the eyes and ears of the body are towards us, so the eyes and ears of the heart are towards Him.
They all look to thee to give them their food in due season; as if he said, Thou nourishest us, preparing our food from the products of each season
All things wait upon you, that you may give them food in due season. Because all things live by God's nod.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
These wait all upon thee,....
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
God is a bountiful benefactor to them: He gives them their meat; he opens his hand and they are filled with good. He supports the armies both of heaven and earth. Even the meanest creatures are not below his cognizance.
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
These wait all upon thee. They come around thee as fowls around the farmer's door at the time for feeding, and look up with expectation. Men or marmots, eagles or emmets, whales or minnows, they alike rely upon thy care. That thou mayest give them meat in due season; that is to say, when they need it and when it is ready for them. God has a time for all things, and does not feed his creatures by fits and starts; he gives them daily bread, and a quantity proportioned to their needs.
These wait all upon thee. They come around thee as fowls around the farmer's door at the time for feeding, and look up with expectation. Men or marmots, eagles or emmets, whales or minnows, they alike rely upon thy care. That thou mayest give them meat in due season; that is to say, when they need it and when it is ready for them. God has a time for all things, and does not feed his creatures by fits and starts; he gives them daily bread, and a quantity proportioned to their needs. This is all that any of us should expect; if even the brute creatures are content with a sufficiency we ought not to be more greedy than they.
These wait all upon thee - The innumerable fry of the smaller aquatic animals, as well as whales, dolphins, porpoises, and sharks, all have their meat from God. He has in his gracious providence furnished that sort of food which is suitable to all. And this provision is various; not only for every kind of fish does God provide food, but a different kind of aliment for each in its different periods of growth. Here are displayed the goodness and infinitely varied providence of God: “He giveth them their meat in due season.”
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
These wait all upon thee - That is, These are all dependent on thee. It does not, of course, mean that they “wait” in the sense that they are conscious of their dependence on God, but that they are “actually” dependent. The original word implies the idea of “expecting” or “hoping,” and is so rendered in the Septuagint and Vulgate. They have no other ground of expectation or hope but in thee. That thou mayest give them their meat in due season - Their food at the proper time. That is, They are constantly dependent on thee, that thou mayest give them food from day to day. Perhaps there is also the idea that they do not lay up or hoard anything; or that they cannot anticipate their own needs, but must receive from one day to another all that they want directly from God.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֻּ֭לָּם | kulom | all of them | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אֵלֶ֣יךָ | ʾeleikha | to you | H413 → | 5510 times |
| יְשַׂבֵּר֑וּן | yesaberun | they wait ! | H7663 → | 8 times |
| לָתֵ֖ת | latet | to give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אָכְלָ֣ם | ʾakhelam | food their | H400 → | 43 times |
| בְּעִתּֽוֹ׃ | beito | at appropriate time its | H6256 → | 296 times |
כֻּ֭לָּםall of them
kulomH3605 →5413 times
אֵלֶ֣יךָto you
ʾeleikhaH413 →5510 times
יְשַׂבֵּר֑וּןthey wait !
yesaberunH7663 →8 times
לָתֵ֖תto give
latetH5414 →2011 times
אָכְלָ֣םfood their
ʾakhelamH400 →43 times
בְּעִתּֽוֹ׃at appropriate time its
beitoH6256 →296 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 147:9He provides food for the animals, and for the young ravens when they call.
it leads to
- Psalms 104:27–28
All creatures look to You to give them their food in due season.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 6:26
Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns—and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 38:41
Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
- Psalms 136:25
He gives food to every creature. His loving devotion endures forever.
- Psalms 145:15–16
The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in season.
- Psalms 104:27–28
Through
Job 38:41Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
it leads to
- Psalms 147:9
He provides food for the animals, and for the young ravens when they call.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 12:24
Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storehouse or barn; yet God feeds them. How much more valuable you are than the birds!
- Psalms 147:9
Through
Psalms 136:25He gives food to every creature. His loving devotion endures forever.
it leads to
- Psalms 145:15
The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in season.
- Psalms 145:15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 104; Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 2.6; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 5; Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 8; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Homily 30, on Psalm 103; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.