Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 104:3

"Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; Who maketh the clouds his chariot; Who walketh upon the wings of the wind;" — Psalms 104:3 (ASV)

Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters - The word here rendered “layeth”—from קרה qârâh—properly means to meet; then, in Hiphil, to cause to meet, or to fit into each other, as beams or joists do in a dwelling. It is a word that would be properly applied to the construction of a house and to the right adjustment of the different materials employed in building it. The word rendered “beams”—עליה ‛ălı̂yâh—means “an upper chamber, a loft,” such as rises in oriental houses above the flat roof; in the New Testament, the ὑπερῷον huperōon—rendered “upper room” (Acts 1:13; Acts 9:37, 39; Acts 20:8).

This chamber refers here to the exalted abode of God—as if raised above all other edifices, or above the world. The word “waters” here refers to the description of the creation in Genesis 1:6-7—the waters “above the firmament,” and the waters “below the firmament.”

The allusion here is to the waters above the firmament. The meaning is that God had constructed the place of his own abode—the room where he dwelt—in those waters; that is, in the most exalted place in the universe. It does not mean that he made it of the waters, but that his home—his dwelling-place—was in or above those waters, as if he had built his dwelling not on solid earth or rock, but in the waters, giving stability to that which seems to have no stability, and making the very waters a foundation for the structure of his abode.

Who maketh the clouds his chariot - Who rides on the clouds as in a chariot. See the notes at Isaiah 19:1. Compare the notes at Psalm 18:11.

Who walketh upon the wings of the wind - See the notes at Psalm 18:10.