Psalms 8

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God's glory is magnified by his works, and by his love to man.

To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David.

1. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

3. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

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

6. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

7. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

8. The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

9. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Metrical version

Psalm 8

C.M. Winchester, Richmond

How excellent in all the earth,
LORD, our Lord, is thy name!
Who hast thy glory far advanced
above the starry frame.

From infants' and from sucklings' mouth
thou didest strength ordain,
For thy foes' cause, that so thou might'st
th' avenging foe restrain.

When I look up unto the heav'ns,
which thine own fingers framed,
Unto the moon, and to the stars,
which were by thee ordained;

Then say I, What is man, that he
remembered is by thee?
Or what the son of man, that thou
so kind to him should'st be?

For thou a little lower hast
him than the angels made;
With glory and with dignity
thou crowned hast his head.

Of thy hands' works thou mad'st him lord,
all under 's feet didst lay;
All sheep and oxen, yea, and beasts
that in the field do stray;

Fowls of the air, fish of the sea,
all that pass through the same.
How excellent in all the earth,
LORD, our Lord, is thy name!