The sun riseth, they get them away, and lay them down in their dens. Man goeth forth unto his work, and to his labour until the evening.
The trees of the Lord are full of sap, ... wherein the birds make their nests.... The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats.
Yonder is the sea, great and wide, wherein are ... both small and great beasts. There go the ships....
O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all. The earth is full of Thy creatures.
He watereth the hills from above: the earth is filled with the fruit of Thy works. He bringeth forth grass for the cattle, and green herb for the service of men.
He appointed the moon for certain seasons, and the sun knoweth his going down.
These wait all upon Thee.... When Thou givest them [food] they gather it; and when Thou openest Thy hand they are filled with good. When Thou hidest Thy face they are troubled: when Thou takest away their breath they die.
In face of this remarkable similarity one can hardly doubt that there is a direct connection between the two compositions; and it becomes necessary to ask whether both Akhnaton’s hymn and this Hebrew psalm were derived from a common Syrian source, or whether Psalm civ. is derived from this Pharaoh’s original poem. Both views are admissible; but in consideration of Akhnaton’s peculiar ability and originality there seems considerable likelihood that he is the author in the first instance of this gem of the Psalter.
When the young Pharaoh composed this hymn he was probably neither much more nor less than twenty or twenty-one years of age,—a period of life at which many of the world’s greatest poets have written some of their fairest poems. One sees that he believed himself to be the only man to whom God had revealed Himself; and the fact that he never admits that he was in any way taught to regard God as he did, but always speaks of himself, and is spoken of, as the originator and teacher of the faith, indicates that the ideas expressed in the hymn were entirely his own.