the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
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
Job 38:10-11 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
Genesis 9:11-15 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any mor…
Job 26:10 He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.
Isaiah 54:9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn tha…
Jeremiah 5:22 Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decre…
Psalms 33:7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 104:1-9
When we are addressing ourselves to any religious service we must stir up ourselves to take hold on God in it (Isa 64:7); so David does here. "Come, my soul, where art thou? What art thou thinking of? Here is work to be done, good work, angels' work; set about it in good earnest; let all the powers and faculties be engaged and employed in it: Bless the Lord, O my soul!" In these verses,
I. The psalmist looks up to the divine glory shining in the upper world, of which, though it is one of the things not seen, faith is the evidence. With what reverence and holy awe does he begin his meditation with that acknowledgment: O Lord my God! thou art very great! It is the joy of the saints that he who…
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 38:8. So the Lord has set a bound to the proud waters of afflictions, and says, Thus far shall ye go, and no farther; and to the life of man, which he cannot exceed, Job 14:5. But he has given man a law, as a rule to walk by, as the boundary of his conversation, and this he transgresses; in which he is less tractable than the raging sea and its wav…
Psalm 104:5-9
5. He hath founded the earth upon its foundations, so that it shall not be moved for ever. 6. He hath covered it with the deep as with a garment: the waters shall stand above the mountains. 7. At thy rebuke they shall flee; at the voice of thy thunder they shall haste away. [180] 8. The mountains shall ascend, and the valleys shall descend [181] to the place which thou hast founded for them. 9. Thou hast fixed a bound over which they shall not pass; they shall not return to cover the earth.
5 He hath founded the earth upon its foundations Here the prophet celebrates the glory of God, as manifested in the stability of the earth. Since it is suspended in the midst of the air, a…
The Church Fathers
You have set a boundary which they shall not pass. For it is marvelous to hear the roaring of the sea, and its rush, and the waves lifted up as high as heaven, and coming as if to cover the whole earth; and yet at the shore they lay down their rush, and return to themselves, and do not overstep God's command — while men do not keep God's command. Neither shall they turn back to cover the earth, as happened under Noah, the flood.
Hear. "Thou hast set a bound which they shall not pass over, neither shall they turn again to cover the earth." What then, because now the bitterest waves have received a measure, that we must be allowed to preach such things even with freedom; because they have had their due limit assigned, because they cannot pass over the bound that is set, nor shall they return to cover the earth; what is doing in the earth itself? What workings take place therein, now that the sea hath left it bare? Although at its beach slight waves do make their noise, although Pagans still murmur round; the sound of the shores I hear, a deluge I dread not. What then; what is doing in the earth? "Who sendeth out springs in the little valleys." "Thou sendest out," he saith, "springs in the little valleys." Ye know what little valleys are, lower places among the lands. For to hills and mountains, valleys and little valleys are opposed in contrary shape. Hills and mountains are swellings of the land: but valleys and little valleys, lownesses of the lands. Do not despise low places, thence flow springs. "Thou sendest out springs in the little valleys." Hear a mountain. The Apostle saith, "I laboured more than they all." A certain greatness is brought before us: yet immediately, that the waters may flow, he hath made himself a valley: "Yet not I, but the grace of God with me." It is no contradiction that they who are mountains be also valleys: for as they are called mountains because of their spiritual greatness, so also valleys because of the humility of their spirit. "Not I," he saith, "but the grace of God with me." ...
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
Birds · God provides for — God provides for
Continents · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Earth · Primitive condition of — Primitive condition of
Geology · 22:16; — 22:16;
Mountains · Are the sources of springs and rivers — Are the sources of springs and rivers
Providence Of God, The · Is exercised in: Preserving the course of nature — Is exercised in: Preserving the course of nature
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).
Psa 104:8 continues with the words אל־מקום (cf. Gen 1:9, אחד אל־מקום): the waters retreat to the place which (זה, cf. Psa 104:26, for אשׁר, Gen 39:20) God has assigned to them as that which should contain them. He hath set a bound (גּבוּל, synon. חק, Pro 8:29; Jer 5:22) for them beyond which they may not flow forth again to cover the earth, as the primordial waters of chaos have done.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 104:9-10
The Lord reigns over all bodies of water, including those on land. He replaced chaotic waters with order and abundance, and the earth became a splendid place for animals and humans, with water refreshing the ground, the birds, and the animals.
104:9 The Lord set a firm boundary for the seas to protect the land. God’s sovereignty over sea and land was an argument against the existence of Baal, whom the Canaanites celebrated as victorious over the waters (see Ps 29).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 104:9
Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.
Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth. That bound has once been passed, but it shall never be so again. The deluge was caused by the suspension of the divine mandate which held the floods in check: they knew their old supremacy, and hastened to reassert it, but now the covenant promise for ever prevents a return of that carnival of waters, that revolt of the waves: ought we not rather to call it that impetuous rush of the indignant floods to avenge the injured honour of their King, whom men had offended? Jehovah's word bounds the ocean, usi…
