Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 8

To the Chief Musician; set to a Philistine lute, or [possibly] to a particular Hittite tune. A Psalm of David.

¹ O Lord, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory on [or above] the heavens.

² Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants You have established strength because of Your foes, that You might silence the enemy and the avenger.^(A)

³ When I view and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained and established,

⁴ What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him?

⁵ Yet You have made him but a little lower than God [or heavenly beings], and You have crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶ You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet:^(B)

⁷ All sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field,

⁸ The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

⁹ O Lord, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your name in all the earth!

¹¹ One day, after Moses was grown, it happened that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of [Moses’] brethren.

¹² He looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

¹³ He went out the second day and saw two Hebrew men quarreling and fighting; and he said to the unjust aggressor, Why are you striking your comrade?

¹⁴ And the man said, Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Then Moses was afraid and thought, Surely this thing is known.

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh’s presence and ^[a]took refuge in the land of Midian, where he sat down by a well.

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfathomable (inscrutable, unsearchable) are His judgments (His decisions)! And how untraceable (mysterious, undiscoverable) are His ways (His methods, His paths)!

³⁴ For who has known the mind of the Lord and who has understood His thoughts, or who has [ever] been His counselor?^(A)

³⁵ Or who has first given God anything that he might be paid back or that he could claim a recompense?

³⁶ For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. [For all things originate with Him and come from Him; all things live through Him, and all things center in and tend to consummate and to end in Him.] To Him be glory forever! Amen (so be it).