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Psalm 8

For the worship leader. A song of David accompanied by the harp.[a]

This Davidic psalm based on Genesis 1 celebrates not only God’s majesty as Creator but also the unique place of human beings in His creation.

O Eternal, our Lord,
    Your majestic name is heard throughout the earth;
Your magnificent glory shines far above the skies.
From the mouths and souls of infants and toddlers, the most innocent,
    You have decreed power to stop Your adversaries
    and quash those who seek revenge.

When I gaze to the skies and meditate on Your creation—
    on the moon, stars, and all You have made,
I can’t help but wonder why You care about mortals—
    sons and daughters of men—
    specks of dust floating about the cosmos.

But You placed the son of man just beneath God
    and honored him like royalty, crowning him with glory and honor.
You ordained him to govern the works of Your hands,
    to nurture the offspring of Your divine imagination;
    You placed everything on earth beneath his feet:
All kinds of domesticated animals,
    even the wild animals in the fields and forests,
The birds of the sky and the fish of the sea,
    all the multitudes of living things that travel the currents of the oceans.

O Eternal, our Lord,
    Your majestic name is heard throughout the earth.

Footnotes

  1. 8:title Hebrew, gittith, a winepress or a musical instrument from Gath

Psalm 8

For the choir director; on the gittith;[a] a psalm by David.

O Yahweh, our Adonay, how majestic is your name throughout the earth!

Your glory is sung above the heavens.[b]
From the mouths of little children and infants,
    you have built a fortress against your opponents
        to silence the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens,
    the creation of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars that you have set in place—
        what is a mortal that you remember him
            or the Son of Man that you take care of him?
        You have made him a little lower than yourself.
        You have crowned him with glory and honor.
        You have made him rule what your hands created.
        You have put everything under his control:
            all the sheep and cattle, the wild animals,
            the birds, the fish,
            whatever swims in the currents of the seas.

O Yahweh, our Adonay, how majestic is your name throughout the earth!

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 8:1 Unknown musical term.
  2. Psalm 8:1 Hebrew meaning of this line uncertain.