a contemplation · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
sweet
יֶעֱרַ֣בye.'e.Rav
H6149
to be agreeable · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
glad
אֶשְׂמַ֥ח'es.Mach
H8055
probably to brighten up · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
LORD
בַּיהוָֽהba.Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · preposition + proper noun, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Habakkuk 3:17-18 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield…
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
Psalms 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
Psalms 119:15-16 I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.
Psalms 119:127-128 Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.
Psalms 9:2 I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.
Luke 1:47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Psalms 63:5-6 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 104:31–end
The psalmist concludes this meditation with speaking,
I. Praise to God, which is chiefly intended in the psalm.
1. He is to be praised, (1.) As a great God, and a God of matchless perfection: The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever, Psa 104:31. It shall endure to the end of time in his works of creation and providence; it shall endure to eternity in the felicity and adorations of saints and angels. Man's glory is fading; God's glory is everlasting. Creatures change, but with the Creator there is no variableness. (2.) As a gracious God: The Lord shall rejoice in his works. He continues that complacency in the products of his own wisdom and goodness which he had when he saw every thing tha…
My meditation of him shall be sweet,.... Of the glories, excellencies, and perfections of his person; of his offices, as Mediator, King, Priest, and Prophet, the Saviour and Redeemer; of his works of creation, providence, and redemption; of his word, the blessed truths and comfortable doctrines of it; of his providential dispensations, and gracious dealings with his people in the present state; which to meditate upon, when grace is in exercise, is very sweet, delightful, and comfortable. The Targum renders it as a petition,
"let my meditation be sweet before him;''
that is, grateful and acceptable to him: or, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, "let my speech", discourse, colloqu…
Psalm 104:31-35
31. Glory be to Jehovah for ever; let Jehovah rejoice in his works. 32. When he looketh upon the earth, it shall tremble: if he touch the mountains, they shall smoke. [198] 33. I will sing to Jehovah whilst I:live: I will sing psalms to my God as long as I have my being. [199] 34. Let my speech [or words [200] ] be acceptable to him: [201] I will rejoice in Jehovah. 35. Let sinners perish from the earth, and the wicked till they cease to be any more. O my soul! bless thou Jehovah. Hallelujah.
31. Glory be to Jehovah for ever The inspired writer shows for what purpose he has celebrated in the preceding part of the psalm the power, wisdom, and goodness of God in his works, na…
The Church Fathers
May my speech be pleasing to him. May it be pleasing to him, so that one may worthily be able to praise and bless God. He spoke in the optative mood, not the imperative. But I will delight in the Lord. Blessed are those who say this after the judgment.
Thus then, being before instructed and taught, they [the people of Israel] learned not to do service to any one but the Lord. They began to know how long the shadow would last and not to forget the time that was at hand, in which no longer should the bullock of the herd be a sacrifice to God, or the ram of the flock or the he-goat, but all these things should be fulfilled in a purely spiritual manner and by constant prayer and upright conversation, with godly words; as David sings, "May my meditation be pleasing to him. Let my prayer be set forth before you as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." The Spirit also, who is in him, commands, saying, "Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay to the Lord your vows. Offer the sacrifice of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord."
"Let my discourse be pleasing to Him: my joy shall be in the Lord." What is the discourse of man unto God, save the confession of sins? Confess unto God what thou art, and thou hast discoursed with Him. Discourse unto Him, do good works, and discourse. "Wash you, make you clean," saith Isaiah. What is it to discourse unto God? Unfold thyself to him who knoweth thee, that He may unfold Himself to thee who knowest not Him. Behold, it is thy discourse that pleaseth the Lord; the offering of thy humility, the tribulation of thy heart, the holocaust of thy life, this pleaseth God. But what is pleasing to thyself? "My joy shall be in the Lord." This is that discoursing which I meant between God and thyself: show thyself to Him who knoweth thee, and He showeth Himself unto thee who knowest not him. Pleasing unto Him is thy confession: sweet unto thee is His grace. He hath Spoken Himself unto thee. How? By the Word. What Word? Christ. ...
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Meditation · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The poet has now come to an end with the review of the wonders of the creation, and closes in this seventh group, which is again substantially decastichic, with a sabbatic meditation, inasmuch as he wishes that the glory of God, which He has put upon His creatures, and which is reflected and echoed back by them to Him, may continue for ever, and that His works may ever be so constituted that He who was satisfied at the completion of His six days' work may be able to rejoice in them. For if they cease to give Him pleasure, He can indeed blot them out as He did at the time of the Flood, since He is always able by a look to put the earth in a tremble, and by a touch to set the mountains on fire…
The trembling earth and the smoking mountains represent the Lord’s coming in judgment against sinners and salvation for his faithful people (see 18:7-15).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 104:34
My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord.
My meditation of him shall be sweet. Sweet both to him and to me. I shall be delighted thus to survey his works and think of his person, and he will graciously accept my notes of praise. Meditation is the soul of religion. It is the tree of life in the midst of the garden of piety, and very refreshing is its fruit to the soul which feeds thereon. And as it is good towards man, so is it towards God. As the fat of the sacrifice was the Lord's portion, so are our best meditations due to the Most High and are most acceptable to him. We ought, therefore, both for our own good and for the Lord's honour to be much occupied with medit…
