My Notes
What Does Psalms 147:9 Mean?
God feeds the beasts and the young ravens when they cry. Two categories of creatures: animals in general (the beast) and baby ravens specifically (young ravens who cry). God provides food for the strong and the weak. The lion and the baby bird both eat because God feeds them.
The young ravens are the surprising detail: ravens were considered unclean in the Mosaic law (Leviticus 11:15). And their young — helpless, ugly, loud — are specifically mentioned as recipients of God's feeding. God feeds even the unclean animals' babies. His provision doesn't follow the purity code. His care extends beyond His ceremonial categories.
The phrase "which cry" means the ravens' hunger is vocal: they cry out for food. And God responds to the crying. The provision is triggered by the need expressed. The young ravens don't have theology. They have hunger. And the hunger, voiced as a cry, reaches a God who feeds.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Does God feeding unclean ravens' babies expand your understanding of who He provides for?
- 2.Are you willing to 'cry' — to openly express your need the way the young ravens do?
- 3.How does Jesus quoting the ravens (Luke 12:24) connect this Psalm to His teaching about worry?
- 4.If God feeds creatures who can't help themselves and aren't ceremonially clean, what does that say about His provision for you?
Devotional
He feeds the animals. He feeds the baby ravens when they cry. Even the unclean birds' babies get fed.
God gives food to the beasts — all of them. The lion, the deer, the ox, the sparrow. Every creature that eats, eats because God provides. But the psalmist specifies: the young ravens. Baby birds. Unclean ones, at that. Ugly, noisy, helpless chicks in a nest, screaming for food. And God feeds them.
Ravens were unclean under the law. You couldn't eat them. You couldn't sacrifice them. They were outside the ceremonial system. And God feeds their babies. His care doesn't follow His purity code. The provision extends beyond the categories the law creates. The unclean raven's chick is as fed as the clean dove's.
"Which cry" — the baby ravens cry. That's all they can do. They can't hunt. They can't fly. They can't provide for themselves. They open their mouths and scream. And God hears the scream and sends the food.
Jesus picks up this exact image: "Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap... and God feedeth them" (Luke 12:24). The ravens don't farm. They don't plan. They don't worry. They cry. And God feeds.
If God feeds the baby ravens — unclean, helpless, unable to do anything except cry — what does that say about His willingness to feed you? You, who are more valuable than many ravens. You, who can do more than cry. You, who are clean in Christ.
The young ravens cry. God feeds. The provision is that simple. The care is that comprehensive. Even the unclean babies get fed.
Open your mouth. Cry. And watch the God of the ravens provide.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
He giveth to the beast his food,.... Through the plenty of grass growing upon the mountains, by the rain falling from…
He giveth to the beast his food - To the wild beast; to the animals that cannot toil for it themselves, as man does.…
Here, I. The duty of praise is recommended to us. It is not without reason that we are thus called to it again and…
Cp. Psa 145:15; Job 38:41; Luk 12:24. Tristram, Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 200, denies that there is any foundation for the…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture