Psalms 8
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O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Public Domain KJV text from Wordproject.org
Psalm 8:1-9
How Majestic Is Your Name
To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.
1O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
5Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
ESV Bible text displayed through the American Bible Society's Global Bible Widget
Psalm 8:1-9
Psalm 8
For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David.
1Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
5You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
7all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
NIV Bible text displayed through the American Bible Society's Global Bible Widget
Commentary
The crown of creation was humanity, made in the image of God.
David said, “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?...Yet You made him a little lower than”…Who? What?
The Greek Septuagint says “a little lower than the angels.”
The original Hebrew reads “a little lower than Elohim”!
Some brush off the glory that God made us so like Himself—“a little lower.”
Instead, they explain that elohim could refer to “heavenly beings”—angels.
But Elohim in Genesis 1 is the God “in the beginning” who “created the heaven and the earth”!
We don’t read angels into that passage!
Old and New Testaments together indicate that all three of the Heavenly Trio worked together in Creation—a truth indicated in the plurality of Elohim.
Deuteronomy 6:4, the Great Shema reads: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord, the Lord is ONE”—the collective word “echad.” At the first wedding, God declared of the man and his wife “They two shall be one”—echad.
The oneness of husband and wife, together ruling God’s beautiful earth, creative in our sphere as God is creative in His sphere—no wonder David was amazed!
To God be the Glory, forever and always!
Virginia Davidson
Artist—designing and building stained glass windows. Spokane Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church, Washington, USA (as of this writing)
