Psalms 147:8 · Clearspring

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Other translations

WEBBE

who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains.

BSB

who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the hills.

KJV

Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.

ASV

Who covereth the heavens with clouds, Who prepareth rain for the earth, Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.

BBE

By his hand the heaven is covered with clouds and rain is stored up for the earth; he makes the grass tall on the mountains.

Original Hebrew

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הַמְכַסֶּה ham·kha·seh who covers H3680 שָׁמַיִם sha·ma·yim [the] heavens H8064 בְּעָבִים be·'a·vim with clouds H5645 הַמֵּכִין ha·me·khin who prepares H3559 לָאָרֶץ la·'a·retz for the earth H776 מָטָר ma·tar rain H4306 הַמַּצְמִיחַ ha·matz·mi·ach who causes to sprout H6779 הָרִים ha·rim mountains H2022 חָצִיר cha·tzir grass H2682

The early church

..."Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth" (ver. 8). Now thou art alarmed, because thou canst not see the heaven: when it hath rained thou shalt gather fruit, and shalt see clear sky. Perhaps our God hath done this. For had we not the obscurity of Scripture as an occasion, we should not say to you those things wherein ye rejoice. This then perhaps is the rain whereat ye rejoice. It would not be possible for it to be expressed to you by our tongue, were it not that God covereth with clouds of figures the heaven of the Scriptures. For this purpose willed He that the words of the Prophets should be obscure, that the servants of God might afterwards have that by interpreting which they might flow over the ears and hearts of men, that they might receive from the clouds of God the fatness of spiritual joy. "Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains, and herb for the service of men." Behold the fruit of the rain. "Who maketh," saith he, "grass to grow upon the mountains." Doth it not also grow upon the low ground? Yes, but it is a great thing that it groweth "on the mountains." ...For nothing could be more barren than the hard mountains. "And herb for the service of men." What "service"? Listen to Paul himself. "And ourselves," saith he, "your servants for Jesus Christ's sake." He who said, "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your carnal things?" yet said, that he was a "servant." For we are your servants, brethren. Let none of us speak of himself, as though he were greater than you. We shall be greater if we are more humble. "But whosoever will be great among you" (it is the Lord's saying), "shall be your servant." Paul the Apostle, indeed, living by his own labour, refused even to receive "the grass of the mountains;" he chose to want; nevertheless, the mountains gave "grass." Because he chose not to receive, ought the mountains therefore not to give, and so to remain barren? Fruit is due to the rain, food is due to the servant, as the Lord saith, "Eat such things as they give you:" and that they should not think that they gave aught of their own, He added, "for the labourer is worthy of his hire."

Augustine of Hippo · d. 430Expositions on the Psalms

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verses 1–11

Praising God is work that is its own wages. It is comely; it becomes us as reasonable creatures, much more as people in covenant with God. He gathers outcast sinners by his grace, and will bring them into his holy habitation. To those whom God heals with the consolations of his Spirit, he speaks peace, assures them their sins are pardoned. And for this, let others praise him also. Man's knowledge is soon ended; but God's knowledge is a dept that can never be fathomed. And while he telleth the number of the stars, he condescends to hear the broken-hearted sinner. While he feeds the young ravens, he will not leave his praying people destitute. Clouds look dull and melancholy, yet without them we could have no rain, therefore no fruit. Thus afflictions look black and unpleasant; but from clouds of affliction come showers that make the soul to yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness. The psalmist delights not in things wherein sinners trust and glory; but a serious and suitable regard to God is, in his sight, of very great price. We are not to be in doubt between hope and fear, but to act under the gracious influences of hope and fear united.

Read Matthew Henry on Psalm 147 →

Spurgeon · Verse 8

Who covereth the heaven with clouds. He works in all things, above as well as below. Clouds are not caused by accident, but produced by God himself, and made to assume degrees of density by which the blue firmament is hidden. A sky scape might seem to be a mere fortuitous concourse of vapours, but it is not so: the Great Artist's hand thus covers the canvas of the heavens. Who prepareth rain for the earth. The Lord prepares clouds with a view to rain, and rain with an eye to the fields below. By many concurrent circumstances all things are made ready for the production of a shower; there is more of art in the formation of a rain cloud and in the fashioning of a rain drop, than appears to superficial observers. God is in the vapour, and in the pearly drop which is born of it. Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. By the far reaching shower he produces vegetation where the hand of man is all unknown. He cares not only for Goshen's fertile plains, but for Carmel's steep ascents. God makes the heavens the servants of the earth, and the clouds the irrigators of the mountain meadows. This is a kind of evolution about which there can be no dispute. Nor does the Lord forget the waste and desolate places, but causes the lone hills to be the first partakers of his refreshing visitations. This is after the manner of our God. He not only causes rain to descend from the heavens to water the grass, and thus unites the skies and the herbs by a ministry of mercy; but he also thinks of the rocky ledges among the hills, and forgets not the pastures of the wilderness. What a God is this!

"Passing by the rich and great,

For the poor and desolate."

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Cross-references

19

Topics

God Blessing Meteorology And Celestial Phenomena