The Lord’s Glory and Man’s Dignity
To the Chief Musician; set to [1]a Philistine lute [or perhaps to a particular Hittite tune]. A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic and glorious and excellent is Your name in all the earth! You have displayed Your splendor above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babes You have established strength because of Your adversaries, that You might silence the enemy and make the revengeful cease.
3 When I see and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have 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 a little lower than [2]God, 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,
7 All sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
8 The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic and glorious and excellent is Your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8:1-9 (AMP)
Footnotes
- Psalm 8:1 Or perhaps to a particular key; meaning uncertain.
- Psalm 8:5 LXX reads angels; Heb Elohim is usually translated “God” or “god.” But it can also mean “gods” (with a lowercase “g”) when it is used with reference to the pagan gods of other nations. See, for instance, Ex 20:3: “You shall have no other gods (Elohim) before Me.” Since there are no capital letters in Hebrew as there are in English, the meaning of Ps 8:5 is ambiguous. It may be saying that humans were created a little lower than God Himself, or it may say that humans were created a little lower than the heavenly beings.
Unapologetically Marcia 