Psalm 8

Lines Scansion 

 

 

NASB (The Hebrew text makes the superscription verse 1)

1 O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth,

Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

2  From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength

Because of Your adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;

 

4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?

 

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

6 You make him to rule 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 heavens and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

9 O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

 

Effect of the Metric Center on the Psalm’s Development

 

Westermann, Praise and Lament in the Psalms, 139—Psalm 8 is a creation psalm. Bratcher &  Reyburn, A Translator's Handbook on the Book of Psalms, 77, summarize the whole revealing the turning point at verse 4 (English), 

 

This psalm is a hymn which celebrates the glory of God and the worth of humankind. It opens with praise of God’s majesty (verses 1–2), followed by a reflection on the human being: though insignificant when compared with God’s creation (verses 3–4), the true worth of human beings is revealed in their having been appointed by the Creator as rulers over all other created beings (verses 5–8). The psalm closes with the same praise of God’s majesty with which it begins (verse 9).

 

Verse 4 (English) is the metric center and the turning point identified thematically by means of a question after which mankind becomes the subject. Ross, BKC, 797—“The rhetorical questions in verse 4 emphasize that man is an insignificant creature in the universe (cf. 144:3). Yet God cares for him immensely. It amazed David that the Lord of the universe even thinks about man.” Craigie, Psalms 1-50, 110, notes the Christological significance in 1 Corinthians 15:27; Ephesians 1:22; Hebrews 2:6-9.

Summary