Psalms 104:3

), the beams of which he lays in the waters, those store-chambers, the clouds that distil fruitful showers. The hills that are not watered by the rivers, as Egypt was by the Nile, are watered by the rain from heaven, which is called the river of God ( Ps. lxv.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters,.... Or "his upper rooms" (i); one story over another being built by him in the heavens, Amo 9:6, the chambers where he resides; his courts, as the Targum; his palace and apartments, his presence chamber particularly, the floor and beams of them are the waters bound up in the thick clouds; or the region of the air, from whence the rain descends to water the hills, as in Psa 104:

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the water's. His lofty halls are framed with the waters which are above the firmament. The upper rooms of God's great house, the secret stories far above our ken, the palatial chambers wherein he resides, are based upon the floods which form the upper ocean. To the unsubstantial he lends stability; he needs no joists and rafters, for his palace is sustained by his own power. We are not to interpret literally where the language is poetical, it would be simple absurdity to do so. Who maketh the clouds his chariot.

in the waters--or, it may be "with"; using this fluid for the beams, or frames, of His residence accords with the figure of clouds for chariots, and wind as a means of conveyance. walketh--or, "moveth" (compare Ps 18:10, 11;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the water's. His lofty halls are framed with the waters which are above the firmament. The upper rooms of God's great house, the secret stories far above our ken, the palatial chambers wherein he resides, are based upon the floods which form the upper ocean. To the unsubstantial he lends stability; he needs no joists and rafters, for his palace is sustained by his own power. We are not to interpret literally where the language is poetical, it would be simple absurdity to do so. Who maketh the clouds his chariot. When he comes forth from his secret pavilion it is thus he makes his royal progress. "It is chariot of wrath deep thunder clouds form, "and his chariot of mercy drops plenty as it traverses the celestial road. Who walketh or rather goes upon the wings of the wind. With the clouds for a car, and the winds for winged steeds, the Great King hastens on his movements whether for mercy or for judgment. Thus we have the idea of a king still further elaborated—his lofty palace, his chariot, and his coursers are before us; but what a palace must we imagine, whose beams are of crystal, and whose base is consolidated vapour! What a stately car is that which is fashioned out of the flying clouds, whose gorgeous colours Solomon in all his glory could not rival; and what a Godlike progress is that in which spirit wings and breath of winds bear up the moving throne. "O Lord, my God, thou art very great!"

המקרה במים עליותיו hamekareh bammayim aliyothaiv. “Laying the beams of his chambers in the waters.” The sacred writer expresses the wonderful nature of the air aptly, and regularly constructed, from various and flux elements, into one continued and stable series, by a metaphor drawn from the singular formation of the tabernacle, which, consisting of many and different parts, and easily reparable when there was need, was kept together by a perpetual juncture and contignation of them all together. The poet goes on: - השם עבים רכובו hassem abim rechubo, המהלך על כנפי רוה hamehallech al canphey ruach. “Making the clouds his chariot, Walking upon the wings of the wind.” He had first expressed an image of the Divine Majesty, such as it resided in the holy of holies, discernible by a certain investiture of the most splendid light; he now denotes the same from that light of itself which the Divine Majesty exhibited, when it moved together with the ark, sitting on a circumambient cloud, and carried on high through the air. That seat of the Divine Presence is even called by the sacred historians, as its proper name, המרכבה hammercabah, The Chariot.

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters - The word here rendered “layeth” - from קרה qârâh - means properly to meet; then, in Hiphil, to cause to meet, or to fit into each other, as beams or joists do in a dwelling. It is a word which would be properly applied to the construction of a house, and to the right adjustment of the different materials employed in building it. The word rendered “beams” - עליה ‛ălı̂yâh - means “an upper chamber, a loft,” such as rises, in Oriental houses, above the flat roof; in the New Testament, the ὑπερῷον huperōon, rendered “upper room,” Act 1:13; Act 9:37, Act 9:39; Act 20:8. It refers here to the chamber - the exalted abode of God - as if raised above all other edifices, or above the world. The word “waters” here refers to the description of the creation in Gen 1:6-7 - the waters “above the firmament,” and the waters “below the firmament.” The allusion here is to the waters above the firmament; and the meaning is, that God had constructed the place of his own abode - the room where he dwelt - in those waters; that is, in the most exalted place in the universe. It does not mean that he made it of the waters, but that his home - his dwelling-place - was in or above those waters, as if he had built his dwelling not on solid earth or rock, but in the waters, giving stability to that which seems to have no stability, and making the very waters a foundation for the structure of his abode. Who maketh the clouds his chariot - Who rides on the clouds as in a chariot. See the notes at Isa 19:1. Compare the notes at Psa 18:11. Who walketh upon the wings of the wind - See the notes at Psa 18:10.