Psalms 104:14

14. Grass… for the cattle… herb for… man From the more general providence of nature, (Psalms 104:10-13,) the poet now enters more particularly upon the provisions for animals and man. “Grass for the cattle,” improperly translated hay, (Proverbs 27:25; Isaiah 15:6,) and rendered leek in the English version of Numbers 11:5, probably from the radical idea of greenness, sufficiently defines itself. (Job 40:15.) But more probably the Egyptian clover ( helbeh) is intended, which, in its first and tender shoots, is universally eaten in Egypt as a salad, and, at a later stage, fed to the cattle. The “herb for the service,” or use “of man,” comprehends not only vegetables, but all breadstuffs and edibles. See Genesis 1:29; Genesis 3:18; Genesis 9:3.

That he may bring forth Whether the verb be construed as the act of man in tilling, or, more properly, of God in causing to grow, the idea conveyed is, the standing miracle by which man’s food comes “out of the earth.” See Job 28:5. The inorganic earthly particles are first manipulated into vegetable tissue and organism, and this into animal.