Psalm 8:9 - Printer Friendly

ESV: O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

NIV: LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

NASB: Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

CSB: Lord, our Lord, how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!

NLT: O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!

KJV: O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

NKJV: O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8 ends as it begins. David addresses the LORD, our Lord, and exclaims, "How majestic is your name in all the earth!" Like us, David's view was that of nature under a curse imposed on it because sin had entered the world. God told Adam: "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you" (Genesis 3:17).

We can only wonder how beautiful nature was before the curse. Someday, when Jesus returns to rule the earth, He will roll back the curse, and once again it will resemble God's creation before sin entered the world. Romans 8:19–21 says, "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." Isaiah describes the earth under Jesus' kingdom rule as so stunning that the desert will blossom abundantly (Isaiah 35:1–2).

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.