2610 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou coverest it with the deep as with a garment,.... This refers not to the waters of the flood, when the earth was covered with them, even the tops of the highest mountains; but to the huge mass of waters, the abyss and depth of them, which lay upon the earth and covered it as a garment, at its first creation, as the context and the scope of it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
At thy rebuke they fled,.... The depths of water that covered the earth fled, went off apace, when Christ, the essential Word, gave the word of command that they should; saying, "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so", Genesis 1:9 and this being called a "rebuke", suggests...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They go up by the mountains, they go down by the valleys,.... The Targum is, "they ascend out of the deep to the mountains;'' that is, the waters, when they went off the earth at the divine orders, steered their course up the mountains, and then went down by the valleys to the place appointed for them; they went over hills and dales, nothing could...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou hast set a bound, that they may not pass over,.... The Targum adds, "to the rolling waves of the sea.'' Set doors with bolts and bars, cliffs, rocks, and shores: and, what is more surprising, sand, which is penetrable, flexible, and moveable, is set as a perpetual bound to the raging ocean and its waves, which they cannot pass over: see Job...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He sendeth the springs into the valleys,.... The Targum is, "who sendeth fountains into the rivers.'' Either from the waters of the sea, which being drained through the sand, become sweet and drinkable; or from the hills and mountains. This is an instance of divine goodness, that having removed the waters from the earth, and shut them up in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They give drink to every beast of the field,.... These fountains, springs, and rivers, afford water for all the beasts of the field; who are therefore said to honour and praise the Lord on account of it, Isaiah 43:19. The wild asses quench their thirst; or "break" (n) it. Those creatures that live in dry and desert places, and are themselves dry...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation,.... Another use of the springs, fountains, and rivers of water; by the sides and on the shores of these, some birds delight to be, and on trees that grow here do they build their nests; and here, having wetted their throats, they sit, and chirp, and sing: to doves, by rivers of water, is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He watereth the hills from his chambers,.... The house of his superior treasures, as the Targum. The airy regions, Psalms 104:3 with the clouds of heaven, by the rain which they drop down upon them; the usefulness of which blessings of nature is largely described in this and some following verses. "The hills", which are naturally dry and barren,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle,.... By means of rain falling upon the tender herb, and upon the mown grass, whereby provision of food is made for those creatures that live upon grass. And herb for the service of man: some herbs being for physic for him, and others for food, and all more or less for his use. Herbs were the original...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And wine that maketh glad the heart of man,.... That is, by means of rain watering the earth, vines are caused to grow out of it; which produce wine, that has such a virtue in it, as to cheer the heart of man, even of a miserable, distressed, and afflicted man, as the word (p) is supposed to signify, Judges 9:13. Of this nature are (and therefore...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The trees of the Lord are full of sap,.... Or "satiated" (s); that is, with rain; and through it are filled with fruits. This is to be understood not only of the tallest and largest trees; which are therefore called the trees of the Lord, as high mountains are called the mountains of the Lord, Psalms 36:6 and so other things excellent in their...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Where the birds make their nests,.... As they do in large, tall, spreading trees: not any particular "birds", as the sparrow, to which the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, and Apollinarius, restrain it: but birds in general are intended; and especially such as build in large trees, as before and after mentioned. Jarchi applies it to the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats,.... Who have their name in Hebrew (d) from their climbing and ascending them. What we commonly call "a wild goose chase" should be expressed "a wild goat's chase"; for not geese, but goats, are chased; and when they are, they flee to the hills for refuge. Hence they are sometimes called the wild...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He appointeth the moon for seasons,.... Or, "he made" (e); for the moon is the work of his hands, Psalms 8:3 as is likewise the sun. From the rain the psalmist passes to the luminaries; for this reason, as Aben Ezra thinks, because they are the cause of rain: the moon is taken notice of in the first place, because, as Kimchi observes, the night...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou makest darkness, and it is night,.... The darkness was before the light, and the night before the day, Genesis 1:2 and now the darkness and night are made by the setting of the sun before mentioned; see Isaiah 45:7. Wherein all the beasts of the field do creep forth; out of their dens, and range about for their prey, as the evening wolves and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The young lions roar after their prey,.... Or, "at the prey" (f); for, according to the Scriptures, it seems as if their time of roaring was when they have got their prey, and are tearing it and feeding on it, and not till then, Amos 3:4 though naturalists tell us, that, when they are pinched with hunger, they make such a hideous roaring, as quite...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together,.... Having gone some one way, some another, seeking their prey; but upon the sun's rising gather together in order to return from whence they came, abhorring the light of the sun, as some creatures do, and fearing being hunted and taken by men, the fear of whom is still in some measure upon the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Man goeth forth to his work,.... Having taken sleep in the night, being comfortably refreshed, and his strength recruited; he rises with the rising sun, and goes forth cheerfully and with intrepidity to his work in the field, or elsewhere, the beasts being fled and gone. And to his labour until the evening; to till the ground, and do other...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
O Lord, how manifold are thy works,.... The psalmist having taken notice of many of the works of creation, stops and wonders at the number of them; though he had not gone through them all, and there were even things innumerable behind; see Psalms 104:25, he admires the sum of them, how great it was; and not only the quantity but the quality of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So is this great and wide sea,.... One of the great and manifold works of God, made in his wisdom, and full of his riches and possessions, as the earth is; this is that collection of waters which God called seas, Genesis 1:10 and is, as Kimchi observes, great in length, and wide and spacious in breadth; or "broad of hands" (i), as in the original;...