© Charles Chandler

 

Great Hymn to the Aten		Psalm 104
When you descend in the western sky the earth is in darkness like the dead		...and the sun knows when to go down. You bring darkness, it becomes night, (20)
...Every lion comes forth from its lair. All serpents come out to sting...		wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey. (20~21)
You rise in the east to shine as the godly Sun by day, driving away the darkness. [...] The people wake and get up, and it is you that raise them each morning...		The sun riseth. Man goes forth unto his work. (22~23)
All cattle rest in their pastures. The trees and the plants too. Birds in the marshes lift their wings in praise of you. So too the sheep prance, and winged insects fly, because you have shone upon them.		The trees of the Lord are full of sap. [...] The birds make their nests. [...] The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats. (16~18)
Ships pass up and down the Nile. [...] The fish in the river leap up before you. Your rays reach the midst of the great green sea. [...]		This great wide sea, wherein [...] go the ships. There is that leviathan, whom you have made to play therein. (25~26)
How manifold are they works! [...] You made men and cattle, the large and the small, those that walk and those that fly — you made them all. [...]		O, Lord, how manifold are they works! In wisdom hast thou made them all. (24)
You have set a Nile in the sky to fall for them, making foods upon the mountains [...] and watering their fields. The Nile in the sky is for service of foreigners and for the cattle of every land.		He watereth the hills. [...] The earth is satisfied with the fruits of thy works. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man. (13~14)
You make the seasons. [...] The world's people are in your hand, even as you made them. When you have risen, they live. When you set, they are as if dead. [...] By you, men live, [...] And the days of each you have numbered.		These wait all upon them; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. What you givest them they gather, thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled. Thou takest away the breath, they die. (27~29)