Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 104:26

"There go the ships; There is leviathan, whom thou hast formed to play therein." — Psalms 104:26 (ASV)

Ships. —The poet writes like one who had been accustomed to see the navies of Phoenicia, one of the indications which lead to the hypothesis that he belonged to the northern part of Palestine. And here for once we seem to catch a breath of enthusiasm for the sea—so rare a feeling in a Jew.

Leviathan. —See Psalms 74:14. In Job (Job 41) it is the crocodile, but here evidently an animal of the sea, and probably the whale. Several species of cetacea are still found in the Mediterranean, and that they were known to the Hebrews is clear from Lamentations 4:3. Various passages from classic authors support this view.

Whom Thou ... —This clause is rendered by some “whom Thou hast made to play with him” (so Septuagint and Vulgate), referring to Job 41:5. It is a rabbinical tradition that Leviathan is God’s plaything.