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Psalm 104:29

You hide your face; they are troubled. You take away their breath; they die and return to the dust.

28You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good.
29You hide your face; they are troubled. You take away their breath; they die and return to the dust.
30You send out your Spirit and they are created. You renew the face of the ground.
31Let the LORD’s glory endure forever. Let the LORD rejoice in his works.
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← Psalm 104:28Psalm 104:30 →
Notice

Breath and dust make the dependence of living creatures stark: when God withdraws their breath, life ends, even within this psalm of praise.

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

What thoughts surface when you read about creatures returning to dust within a song of praise?

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How does the move from God feeding creatures to taking their breath affect your understanding of dependence?

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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 3:19You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for you were taken out of it. For you are dust, and you shall return to dust.”Both passages describe death as a return to dust, naming the earthly end of creaturely life.
Job 14:5Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can’t pass.Both texts place life's limits under God's authority: he appoints human bounds and takes away creatures' breath.
Psalm 146:4His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish.Both passages connect the departure of breath or spirit with a return to the earth.
Job 34:14If he set his heart on himself, if he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath,Both speak of God withdrawing breath; Job frames that withdrawal as a possibility, while the psalm describes creatures dying.
Psalm 30:7You, LORD, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong; but when you hid your face, I was troubled.Both use the language of God hiding his face and describe the trouble that follows.
Ecclesiastes 12:7and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.Both describe dust returning to the earth at death and place creaturely life in relation to God.
Job 12:10in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?Both texts locate the life and breath of living creatures in God's power.
Deuteronomy 31:17Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils …Both connect God's hidden face with trouble, though Deuteronomy speaks of judgment on people and the psalm describes creatures' dependence.
Psalm 22:15My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have brought me into the dust of death.Both connect dust with death and address God as the one who brings life to that point.
Psalm 90:3You turn man to destruction, saying, “Return, you children of men.”Both portray God as sovereign over life's end, describing a return that occurs at his action.
Acts 17:25He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath and all things.Both place breath under God's authority: Acts names him as its giver, while the psalm describes him taking it away.
Where this verse fits

Death and what comes after. grief. praise and worship.

What the Bible says about death →What the Bible says about grief →What the Bible says about worship →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read Psalm 104:27–30 aloud, pausing at verse 29

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Encouragement

The psalm speaks of death without softening it. Your dependence on God reaches to your breath; the creatures he feeds cannot sustain their own lives.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 104:29. 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).