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To the director: With the gittith. A song of David.

Lord our Lord, your name is the most wonderful in all the earth!
    It brings you praise everywhere in heaven.

From the mouths of children and babies come songs of praise to you.
    They sing of your power to silence your enemies who were seeking revenge.

I look at the heavens you made with your hands.
    I see the moon and the stars you created.
And I wonder, “Why are people so important to you?
    Why do you even think about them?
Why do you care so much about humans[a]?
    Why do you even notice them?”

But you made them almost like gods
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
You put them in charge of everything you made.
    You put everything under their control.
People rule over the sheep and cattle and all the wild animals.
They rule over the birds in the sky
    and the fish that swim in the sea.
Lord our Lord, your name is the most wonderful name in all the earth!

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 8:4 people … humans Literally, “man … son of man” or “Enosh … son of Adam.” These are Hebrew ways of saying humans—descendants of Adam and Enosh.

Psalm 8[a]

For the director of music. According to gittith.[b] A psalm of David.

Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name(A) in all the earth!

You have set your glory(B)
    in the heavens.(C)
Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold(D) against your enemies,
    to silence the foe(E) and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,(F)
    the work of your fingers,(G)
the moon and the stars,(H)
    which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?[c](I)

You have made them[d] a little lower than the angels[e](J)
    and crowned them[f] with glory and honor.(K)
You made them rulers(L) over the works of your hands;(M)
    you put everything under their[g] feet:(N)
all flocks and herds,(O)
    and the animals of the wild,(P)
the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,(Q)
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!(R)

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 8:1 In Hebrew texts 8:1-9 is numbered 8:2-10.
  2. Psalm 8:1 Title: Probably a musical term
  3. Psalm 8:4 Or what is a human being that you are mindful of him, / a son of man that you care for him?
  4. Psalm 8:5 Or him
  5. Psalm 8:5 Or than God
  6. Psalm 8:5 Or him
  7. Psalm 8:6 Or made him ruler . . . ; / . . . his