He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;
Parallel translations
- WEB He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth:
- BSB He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth:
- NKJV He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the service of man, That he may bring forth food from the earth,
- NASB ¶He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the labor of mankind, So that they may produce food from the earth,
- NLT You cause grass to grow for the livestock and plants for people to use. You allow them to produce food from the earth—
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God causes grass to grow for livestock and plants for people to cultivate, bringing food from the earth. He provides for both beast and man through ordinary means.
Overview
The psalmist praises God's provision of food, joining the grass for cattle and crops for human labor. God works through the cycles of nature and the toil of people to feed His creatures. This daily bread comes from the Father's hand and points to Christ, the true Bread from heaven.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Ps 136:25Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever.
- Ps 147:8–9Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.
- Ps 145:15–16The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.
- Job 28:5As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
- 1 Cor 3:7So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
- Gen 9:3Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
- Gen 1:11–12And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
- Gen 3:18Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
- Job 38:27To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
- Gen 1:29–30And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
- Joel 2:22Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
- Jer 14:5–6Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.
- 1 Kgs 18:5And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts.
- Gen 2:9And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
- Gen 2:5And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
- Gen 4:12When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 104:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.