The Meaning of Psalms 104:17 Explained

Psalms 104:17

KJV: Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.

YLT: Where birds do make nests, The stork -- the firs are her house.

Darby: Where the birds make their nests; as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.

ASV: Where the birds make their nests: As for the stork, the fir-trees are her house.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Where the birds  make their nests:  [as for] the stork,  the fir trees  [are] her house. 

What does Psalms 104:17 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalms 104:13-23 - A Habitation For Beast And Man
Where there is true love for God, there will be a glad and rejoicing heart that takes pleasure in the study of His works. The loving child of a great artist lingers about his studio, watches with eager interest the development of picture or statue, and speaks with delight to others of her father's work. It is in such a spirit that those who know God in daily fellowship and communion follow the psalmist to mountain streams, to the pastures and the meadows, the grain-fields and the orchards, the high mountains with their dark pines and firs.
There is no pen that has more eloquently portrayed these scenes than Ruskin's. He had a natural love for beauty, and an unrivaled genius for vivid description; but it was as a boy at his mother's knee that he learned from these Scriptures to connect the glories of the natural world with the devout adoration of the Creator. His books reflect this early training.
This psalm may be called a divine commentary on God's earliest book-the world which lies around us. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalms 104

1  A meditation upon the mighty power
7  And wonderful providence of God
31  God's glory is eternal
33  The prophet vows perpetually to praise God

What do the individual words in Psalms 104:17 mean?

where in it the birds make their nests the stork has in the fir trees her home
אֲשֶׁר־ שָׁ֭ם צִפֳּרִ֣ים יְקַנֵּ֑נוּ חֲ֝סִידָ֗ה בְּרוֹשִׁ֥ים בֵּיתָֽהּ

אֲשֶׁר־  where 
Parse: Pronoun, relative
Root: אֲשֶׁר 
Sense: (relative part.).
שָׁ֭ם  in  it 
Parse: Adverb
Root: שָׁם  
Sense: there, thither.
צִפֳּרִ֣ים  the  birds 
Parse: Noun, common plural
Root: צִפֹּור  
Sense: bird, fowl.
יְקַנֵּ֑נוּ  make  their  nests 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: קָנַן  
Sense: to make a nest.
חֲ֝סִידָ֗ה  the  stork  has 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: חֲסִידָה  
Sense: stork.
בְּרוֹשִׁ֥ים  in  the  fir  trees 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: בְּרֹושׁ  
Sense: cypress, fir, juniper, pine.
בֵּיתָֽהּ  her  home 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person feminine singular
Root: בַּיִת 
Sense: house.