Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo
Read

Psalm 104:20

You make darkness, and it is night, in which all the animals of the forest prowl.

18The high mountains are for the wild goats. The rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.
19He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun knows when to set.
20You make darkness, and it is night, in which all the animals of the forest prowl.
21The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God.
22The sun rises, and they steal away, and lie down in their dens.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →
← Psalm 104:19Psalm 104:21 →
Notice

Darkness belongs to God's ordering of the world here, and the prowling forest animals draw attention to life that carries on beyond human sight.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

How does naming God as the maker of night affect the way you think about darkness?

Write on this

What do the prowling animals help you notice about creation beyond your own daily rhythms?

Write on this
Connect

Where else Scripture says this

11 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Genesis 1:5God called the light “day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was morning, the first day.Both passages connect darkness with night and name God as the one who establishes this part of creation.
Isaiah 45:7I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I am the LORD, who does all these things.Both name God as the maker of darkness; Isaiah extends the declaration to peace and calamity.
Amos 5:8Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the …Both attribute night to God's action, with Amos describing him as the one who makes the day dark.
Job 38:19“What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,Both speak of darkness, though Job asks about its dwelling and the psalm names God as its maker.
Psalm 74:16The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.Both affirm God's authority over night: one says he makes darkness, and the other says the night is his.
Genesis 8:22While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”Both describe night within the earth's ordered rhythms, with Genesis promising that day and night will continue while earth remains.
Genesis 1:4–5God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.Both describe God's action concerning darkness: Genesis names his division of light from darkness, while the psalm describes his making darkness.
Jeremiah 5:6Therefore a lion out of the forest will kill them. A wolf of the evenings will destroy them. A leopard will watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out …Both mention forest predators, though Jeremiah describes them as agents of judgment and the psalm describes their nighttime activity.
Amos 1:13The LORD says: “For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have ripped open the …The shared ground is God's action; Amos addresses punishment for atrocities, with no direct connection to night or forest animals.
Psalm 139:10–12even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.Both address God through his acts: making night in this psalm, and leading and holding the speaker in Psalm 139.
Psalm 50:10For every animal of the forest is mine, and the livestock on a thousand hills.Both speak of forest animals in relation to God: he makes the night when they prowl, and they belong to him.
Where this verse fits

Praise and worship. an ordinary day.

What the Bible says about worship →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Watch dusk from a window and notice animal activity

practicaloncelight
Encouragement

The forest has a life beyond what you see in daylight. Its creatures move through darkness that God makes; their nighttime world belongs within his creation.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 104:20. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 104 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).