Psalm 8:5 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

NIV: You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.

NASB: Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!

CSB: You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor.

NLT: Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.

KJV: For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

NKJV: For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.

In this verse David reflects on God's creation of man. He views man as having been created a little lower than the heavenly beings, the angels. Hebrews 2:9 applies Psalm 8:5 to Jesus. Although He created the heavenly beings, Jesus chose to become a man in order to die in the place of sinful man. None of the angels could serve as our substitute and die in our place. Angels do not experience humanity, but Jesus did. Angels are not human, but Jesus lived as a man. Only by becoming human could He serve as a sacrifice for humanity (Hebrews 2:11).

By willingly terminating His life on the cross Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of all who put their faith in Him, past, present, and future. On the cross, Jesus cried out, "It is finished" (John 19:30). The Greek for this expression is tetelestai, meaning, "it stands finished," or "it is paid." Jesus' substitutionary death was sufficient payment for all time for the sins of humanity. Our salvation could not be purchased for anything less than Jesus' blood, and nothing more than His blood is required (1 Peter 1:18–19).

Psalm 8:3–9 parallels Genesis 2:8–15 in which God had provided abundantly for mankind and had given them dominion over all living creatures on the earth. Hebrews 2:5–9 applies this part of Psalm 8 to Jesus. He became a real human being on our behalf, and after His death for our sins, He arose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God. Someday, He will sit upon the throne of David and hold dominion over the whole earth. What Adam lost by sinning, Jesus has restored by suffering (1 Corinthians 15:20–28).

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.

Accessed 5/5/2024 6:43:33 PM