Psalm 8:1 - Printer Friendly

ESV: To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

NIV: For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David. LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.

NASB: Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, You who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

CSB: Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth! You have covered the heavens with your majesty.

NLT: O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens.

KJV: {To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.} O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

NKJV: {To the Chief Musician. On the instrument of Gath. A Psalm of David.} O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens!

As David looks on nature, he exclaims that the Lord's name is majestic in all the earth. David addresses God using the Hebrew term YHWH, also known as the tetragrammaton. This is the biblical name of the One True God, the God of Israel. Here, David indicates God is the God of all mankind by virtue of creation. Because this psalm is a hymn addressed to the choirmaster, the ascription, "our Lord," is appropriate for the entire congregation.

The word, "majestic" is from the Hebrew ad'dir, which may be translated. "wonderful," "great," or "exalted." As David viewed God's creation, he was impressed with how wonderful or great or exalted God is. Nature worshipers are wrong to exalt the creation instead of the Creator (Romans 1:22–23).

The beauty, orderliness, and infinite variety we find in nature should lead us to bow low before our God and ascribe praise to Him. The apostle Paul indicates in Romans 1:19–20 that the creation offers a revelation of God so that those who fail to believe in God are without excuse. Psalm 19:1–6 also credits the creation with a similar revelation of God. When we observe the stars and planets, we gain a deeper appreciation of God's glory.

Psalm 8:1–2 points the readers to Genesis 1, which reports God's creative work. He created everything and saw that it was good. Related Scriptures include Psalm 19:1–6, Psalm 139, Matthew 21:14–16, John 1:1–5, and Romans 1:18–20. Psalm 7 includes the ascription, ''O LORD my God'' (Psalm 7:1, 3), whereas Psalm 8:1 and 9 uses the ascription, ''O LORD our Lord.'' Psalm 8 addresses God as the God of all creation, whereas Psalm 7 addresses Him as David's personal God.

In this psalm David reflects upon God's majesty that is displayed in the creation. The heavens declare God's glory. Against the backdrop of such glory, man seems insignificant, yet God chose man to rule the earth and all its creatures. By giving man this awesome responsibility, God has crowned him with glory and honor. The psalm has a messianic tone, because Jesus Christ became a little lower than the angels by becoming a human being. Someday, when Jesus rules the world, he will restore the dominion Adam lost. All nature, including all mankind, will submit to Jesus' rule. The psalm ends as it began with a declaration of the Lord's majestic name in all the earth.

This psalm is closely related to Genesis 1, which relates the account of God's creation of the heavens and the earth as well as every living thing. God's final creation, according to Genesis 1, was Adam and Eve, the first human beings, whom He created in His own image and placed in authority ''over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth'' (Genesis 1:28). Psalm 144:3 repeats Psalm 8:4, and Hebrews 2:5–9 applies Psalm 8:4–6 to Jesus. First Corinthians 15:45–47 names Adam as the first man, a man of dust, and refers to Jesus as the last Adam, a man from heaven.

The book of Psalms is composed of individual songs, hymns, or poems, each of which is a ''Psalm'' in and of itself. These works contain a wide variety of themes. Some Psalms focus on praising and worshipping God. Others cry out in anguish over the pain of life. Still other Psalms look forward to the coming of the Messiah. While some Psalms are related, each has its own historical and biblical context.