otcanon
Psalms 8
David addresses Jehovah directly — 'O LORD our Lord' — bracketing the psalm with confession of His name's excellency across all the earth. The central movement is a double question: what is man, and what is the son of man, that Jehovah holds both in mind and visits both? The answer lands on covenant dignity: man is made a little lower than the elohim, crowned with glory and honor, and given dominion over creation. The New Testament writers (Hebrews 2, 1 Corinthians 15) read 'son of man' here as a Messianic type pointing to Christ's incarnation and His earned dominion over all things through redemption — the one who descended below all things to be raised above all.
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!
