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А. П. Лопухин: Tолковая Библия или комментарий на все книги Св.Писания Ветхого и Нового Заветов - 1903-1914
Надписание в славянской Библии указывает или на способ музыкального исполнения псалма на инструменте с отверстиями, похожими на отверстия в точиле, или на время употребления псалма при выжимке винограда, каковая работа сопровождалась обыкновенно песнями (Суд X:27; Иер XVIII:33) С евр. языка - "на гефском орудии", (гиттит), т. е. на инструменте, заимствованном евреями из филистимского города Гефа, который мог походить на точило. Все надписание можно понимать, как указание на то, что означенный псалом исполняется на гефском инструменте при уборке винограда, как народная песнь. Указанным обстоятельствам употребления псалма отвечает и все его содержание, представляющее хвалебную песнь Богу за Его блага, дарованные человеку в разумно и прекрасно устроенной Вселенной.

Так как главным предметом содержания псалма является изображение величия Божия в природе, предполагающее в писателе псалма - Давиде продолжительное наблюдение и созерцание ее, а этому последнему Давид мог отдаваться только до своего выступления на общественное служение, когда сначала преследования от Саула, а потом - войны и дела управления государством отвлекали его внимание в другую сторону, то написание означенного псалма нужно относить ко времени жизни Давида в доме своего отца, после первого помазания его Самуилом. Тогда он еще пас стада, был среди природы и мог отдаваться созерцанию ее.
Matthew Henry: Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible - 1706
This psalm is a solemn meditation on, and admiration of, the glory and greatness of God, of which we are all concerned to think highly and honourably. It begins and ends with the same acknowledgment of the transcendent excellency of God's name. It is proposed for proof (ver. 1) that God's name is excellent in all the earth, and then it is repeated as proved (with a "quod erat demonstrandum"--which was to be demonstrated) in the last verse. For the proof of God's glory the psalmist gives instances of his goodness to man; for God's goodness is his glory. God is to be glorified, I. For making known himself and his great name to us, ver. 1. II. For making use of the weakest of the children of men, by them to serve his own purposes, ver. 2. III. For making even the heavenly bodies useful to man, ver. 3, 4. IV. For making him to have dominion over the creatures in this lower world, and thereby placing him but little lower then the angels, ver. 5-8. This psalm is, in the New Testament, applied to Christ and the work of our redemption which he wrought out; the honour given by the children of men to him (ver. 2, compared with Matt. xxi. 16) and the honour put upon the children of men by him, both in his humiliation, when he was made a little lower then the angels, and in his exaltation, when he was crowned with glory and honour. Compare ver. 5, 6, with Heb. ii. 6-8; 1 Cor. xv. 27. When we are observing the glory of God in the kingdom of nature and providence we should be led by that, and through that, to the contemplation of his glory in the kingdom of grace.
Adam Clarke: Commentary on the Bible - 1831
The glory and excellence of God manifested by his works, Psa 8:1, Psa 8:2; particularly in the starry heavens, Psa 8:3; in man, Psa 8:4; in his formation, Psa 8:5; and in the dominion which God has given him over the earth, the air, the sea, and their inhabitants, Psa 8:6, Psa 8:7, Psa 8:8 : in consequence of which God's name is celebrated over all the earth, Psa 8:9.
The inscription to this Psalm is the following: To the chief Musictan upon Gittith, A Psalm of David. This has been metaphrased, "To the conqueror, concerning the wine-presses;" and has been supposed to be a Psalm intended for the time of vintage: and as that happened about the time of the year in which it is supposed the world was created, hence there is a general celebration of those works, and of the creation, and the high privileges of man. The Chaldee gives it a different turn: "A Psalm of David, to be sung upon the harp, which he brought out of Gath." That the Psalm has respect to our Lord and the time of the Gospel, is evident from the reference made to Psa 8:2, in Mat 11:25, the express quotation of it in Mat 21:16, and another reference to it in Co1 1:27. The fourth and sixth verses are quoted Heb 2:6-9. See also Co1 15:27, and Eph 1:22. The first and second Adam are both referred to, and the first and second creation also; and the glory which God has received, and is to receive, through both. It relates simply to Christ and redemption.
Albert Barnes: Notes on the Bible - 1834
8:0: Section 1. "The author of the psalm." This is another psalm purporting to have been written by David, and there is nothing in it that lead's us to think otherwise.
Section 2. "The title to the psalm." The psalm is addressed To the chief Musician upon Gittith. In regard to the meanin of the phrase "chief Musician," see the notes at the introduction to Psa 4:1-8. The word Gittith - גתית gittı̂ yth - occurs but in two other places, also in the titles to the psalms, Psa 81:1; Psa 84:1. It is supposed to refer to a musical instrument so called, either as being common among the Gittites (from גתי gittı̂ y), Gittites, or an inhabitant of Gath. See Sa2 6:10-11; Sa2 15:18), among whom David for some time resided; or as being derived from גת gath - a wine-press, as denoting an instrument that was used by those accustomed to tread the wine-vat, and intended to accompany the songs of the vintage. The former is the more probable derivation, as it is known that David dwelt for some time among that people, and it is not at all improbable that an instrument of music in use among them should have become common among the Hebrews. Nothing is known, however, as to whether it was a stringed instrument or a wind instrument. Compare, however, Ugolin, Thes. Sac. Ant. xxxii. 487. All that can be ascertained, with any degree of probability about this instrument, is, that as each of the psalms to which this title is prefixed is of a cheerful or joyous nature, would seem that this instrument was adapted to music of this kind, rather than to that which was pensive or serious. This idea also would agree well with the supposition that it denotes an instrument that was employed by those connected with the vintage. Compare Isa 16:10.
Section 3. "Occasion on which the psalm was composed." Of this nothing is specified in the psalm itself, and it is impossible now to ascertain it. Aben Ezra, and some others, have supposed that it was written when David brought up the ark to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite, as mentioned in Ch1 13:12-14. But there is nothing in the psalm adapted to such an occasion. Rudinger supposes that it was composed in the joy of taking possession of Mount Zion. Others have supposed that it was on occasion of the victory of David over Goliath of Gath; but there is nothing in it adapted to the celebration of such a victory.
If we may judge from the psalm itself, it would seem probable that it was composed by night in the contemplation of the starry heavens - naturally suggesting, in view of the vastness and beauty of the celestial luminaries, the littleness of man. This also filled the mind of the psalmist with wonder that the God who marshals all these hosts should condescend to regard the condition and wants of a being so feeble and frail as man, and should have exalted him as he has done over his works. That it was composed or suggested in the night seems probable, from Psa 8:3, where the psalmist represents himself as surveying or "considering" the "heavens, the work" of the divine "fingers," and as making the "moon and the stars" the subject of his contemplation, but not mentioning the sun. In such contemplations, when looking on the vastness and grandeur, the beauty and order, of the heavenly hosts, it was not unnatural for the writer to think of his own comparative littleness, and then the comparative littleness of man everywhere. No time is more favorable for suggesting such thoughts than the still night, when the stars are shining clearly in the heavens, and when the moon is moving on in the silent majesty of its course. It would seem also, from Psa 8:2, to be probable that the immediate occasion of this expression of admiration of the name and character of God was some act of condescension on his part in which he had bestowed signal favor on the writer - as if he had ordained strength out of the mouth of babes and sucklings - from even the most feeble and helpless. Perhaps it was in view of some favor bestowed on David himself; and his soul is overwhelmed with a sense of the condescension of God in noticing one so weak and feeble and helpless as he was. From the contemplation of this, the thought is naturally turned to the honor which God had everywhere bestowed upon man.
The psalm, though one part of it is applied by the apostle Paul to Christ Heb 2:6-7, does not appear originally to have had any designed reference to the Messiah, though the apostle shows that its language had a complete fulfillment in him, and in him alone. See the notes at that passage. The psalm is complete in itself, as applicable to man as he was originally created, and according to the purposes of his creation; though it is true that the original design will be carried out and completed only in the dominion which will be granted to the Messiah, who, as a man, has illustrated in the highest manner the original purpose of the creation of the race, and in whom alone the original design will be fully carried out.
Section 4. "Contents of the psalm." The psalm embraces the following points:
I. An admiring recognition of the excellence of the name of God (that is, of God himself); of that excellence as manifested in all the earth, Psa 8:1. The excellency referred to, as the subsequent part of the psalm shows, is in his great condescension, and in his conferring such honor on man - a being so feeble as compared with himself, and so unworthy as compared with the glory of the heavens.
II. The immediate occasion of this reflection, or the cause which suggested it, Psa 8:2. This seems to have been some remarkable manifestation to one who was feeble and helpless, as if God had ordained strength out of the mouth of babes and sucklings. It is not improbable, as remarked above, that in this the psalmist refers to himself as having been, though conscious of weakness and helplessness, the means of overcoming the enemies of God, as if God had ordained strength through him, or had endowed him with strength not his own.
III. The psalmist is led into admiration of the condescension of God in bestowing such dignity and honor on man, Psa 8:3-8. This admiration is founded on two things:
(1) That the God who had made the heavens, the moon and the stars, should condescend to notice man or creatures so insignificant and unworthy of notice, Psa 8:3-4.
(2) The actual honor conferred on man, in the rank which God had given him in the dominion over his works here below; and in the wide extent of that dominion over the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the inhabitants of the seas, Psa 8:5-8.
IV. The psalm concludes with a repetition of the sentiment in the first verse - the reflection on the excellency of the divine name and majesty, Psa 8:9.
R. A. Torrey - Treasury: Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge - 1880
Psa 8:1, God's glory is magnified by his works, and by his love to man.
Psa 81:1, Psa 84:1 *titles
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch

The Praise of the Creator's Glory Sung by the Starry Heavens to Puny Man
Ps. 7 closed with a similar prospect of his enemies being undeceived by the execution of the divine judgments to Ps 6:1-10. The former is the pendant or companion to the latter, and enters into detail, illustrating it by examples. Now if at the same time we call to mind the fact, that Ps 6:1-10, if it be not a morning hymn, at any rate looks back upon sleepless nights of weeping, then the idea of the arrangement becomes at once clear, when we find a hymn of the night following Ps 6:1-10 with its pendant, Ps 7. David composes even at night; Jahve's song, as a Korahite psalmist says of himself in Ps 42:9, was his companionship even in the loneliness of the night. The omission of any reference to the sun in Ps 8:4 shows that Ps 8:1-9 is a hymn of this kind composed in the night, or at least one in which the writer transfers himself in thought to the night season. The poet has the starry heavens before him, he begins with the glorious revelation of Jahve's power on earth and in the heavens, and then pauses at man, comparatively puny man, to whom Jahve condescends in love and whom He has made lord over His creation. Ewald calls it a flash of lightning cast into the darkness of the creation.
Even Hitzig acknowledges David's authorship here; whereas Hupfeld is silent, and Olshausen says that nothing can be said about it. The idea, that David composed it when a shepherd boy on the plains of Judah, is rightly rejected again by Hitzig after he has been at the pains to support it. (This thought is pleasingly worked out by Nachtigal, Psalmen gesungen vor David's Thronbesteigung, 1797, after the opinion of E. G. von Bengel, cum magna veri specie.) For, just as the Gospels do not contain any discourses of our Lord belonging to the time prior to His baptism, and just as the New Testament canon does not contain any writings of the Apostles from the time prior to Pentecost, so the Old Testament canon contains no Psalms of David belonging to the time prior to his anointing. It is only from that time, when he is the anointed one of the God of Jacob, that he becomes the sweet singer of Israel, on whose tongue is the word of Jahve, 2Kings 23:1.
The inscription runs: To the Precentor, on the Gittith, a Psalm of David. The Targum translates it super cithara, quam David de Gath attulit. According to which it is a Philistine cithern, just as there was (according to Athenaeus and Pollux) a peculiar Phoenician and Carian flute played at the festivals of Adonis, called γίγγρας, and also an Egyptian flute and a Doric lyre. All the Psalms bearing the inscription על־הגּתּית (Ps 8:1-9, 81, Ps 84:1-12) are of a laudatory character. The gittith was, therefore, an instrument giving forth a joyous sound, or (what better accords with its occurring exclusively in the inscriptions of the Psalms), a joyous melody, perhaps a march of the Gittite guard, 2Kings 15:18 (Hitzig).
Kurtz makes this Psalm into four tetrastichic strophes, by taking Ps 8:2 and v. 10 by themselves as the opening and close of the hymn, and putting Ps 8:2 (Thou whose majesty...) to the first strophe. But אשׁר is not rightly adapted to begin a strophe; the poet, we think, would in this case have written אתה אשׁר תנה הודו.
John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 8
To the chief Musician upon Gittith, a Psalm of David. Some think this psalm was composed when the ark was brought to the house of Obededom the Gittite; and that it was delivered to him and his sons, as others were to Asaph, to Jeduthun, to the sons of Korah, &c. (l). But against this lies a strong objection, that Obededom and his sons were porters, and not singers, 1Chron 26:4; and for the same reason "gittith" cannot be the name of a musical instrument which was kept in his family, and presided over by them (m). Some are of opinion this word had its name from Gath; and that this psalm was wrote by David when he was there (y); or that it is the name of a musical instrument invented and made there, and which was brought from thence (z): And so the Targum paraphrases it;
"upon the harp which was brought from Gath.''
A word like this signifies "winepresses": and hence the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic versions, render it "for the winepresses": which Theodoret interprets of churches, where Christ the true vine is gathered by believers, and they prepare the mystic wine. Some think (a) the psalms which bear this name were composed for the feast of tabernacles: when, having got in their vintage, they filled their presses, and squeezed their grapes, and therefore gave thanks; it was usual, even with the Heathens (b), to make use of the harp, and other instruments of music, at the gathering of the grapes to be squeezed and pressed. Some of the Jewish writers (d) apply it to the times of Edom's destruction, who was to be trodden down as in a winepress, foretold in Is 63:1; and others interpret it of the times of Gog and Magog, when the prophecy in Joel 3:13; shall be fulfilled (d) and some have thought this psalm to be a song of praise, like one of those sung by them that tread in the winepress; the time of vintage being a time of joy. The ancient Christian writers explain it of the sufferings of Christ, when he trod the winepress of his Father's wrath. But the word "gittith" is either the first word of some song, as Aben Ezra thinks; or the name of the tune, as Kimchi; or rather of the musical instrument to which this psalm was set and sung. Though the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 2:6; citing some passages from this psalm, only says, "one in a certain place testified"; without mentioning either the number of the psalm, or the name of the writer; yet it is certain that David was the penman of it: and both from the testimony of that writer, and from a citation of Christ himself, it is evident that the subject of this psalm is the Messiah, and that it belongs to his times; see Heb 2:6. So the Syriac scholiast;
"the eighth psalm is concerning Christ our Redeemer.''
(l) Aben Ezra in loc. (m) R. Moses apud ibid. (y) Ben Melech in loc. vide Kimchi ibid. (z) Jarchi in loc. (a) Vide Godwin. Synops. Antiqu. Heb. l. 2. s. 1. c. G. (b) Phurnutus de Natura Deorum, p. 84. (d) Rabbini apud Jarchium in loc. (d) Midrash Tillim apud Viccars. in loc.
8:18:1: ՚Ի կատարած ՚ի վերայ հնձանացն. Սաղմոս ՚ի Դաւիթ. Ը։
1 Այսուհետեւ՝ հնձանների մասին, սաղմոս Դաւթի
Սաղմոս Դաւիթի
Ի կատարած ի վերայ հնձանացն``. Սաղմոս Դաւթի:

8:1: ՚Ի կատարած ՚ի վերայ հնձանացն. Սաղմոս ՚ի Դաւիթ. Ը։
1 Այսուհետեւ՝ հնձանների մասին, սաղմոս Դաւթի
Սաղմոս Դաւիթի
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8:08:1 Начальнику хора. На Гефском {орудии}. Псалом Давида.
8:1 εἰς εις into; for τὸ ο the τέλος τελος completion; sales tax ὑπὲρ υπερ over; for τῶν ο the ληνῶν ληνος trough; vat ψαλμὸς ψαλμος psalm τῷ ο the Δαυιδ δαβιδ Dabid; Thavith
8:1 לַ la לְ to † הַ the מְנַצֵּ֥חַ mᵊnaṣṣˌēₐḥ נצח prevail עַֽל־ ʕˈal- עַל upon הַ ha הַ the גִּתִּ֗ית ggittˈîṯ גִּתִּית [uncertain] מִזְמֹ֥ור mizmˌôr מִזְמֹור psalm לְ lᵊ לְ to דָוִֽד׃ ḏāwˈiḏ דָּוִד David יְהוָ֤ה [yᵊhwˈāh] יְהוָה YHWH אֲדֹנֵ֗ינוּ ʔᵃḏōnˈênû אָדֹון lord מָֽה־ mˈā- מָה what אַדִּ֣יר ʔaddˈîr אַדִּיר mighty שִׁ֭מְךָ ˈšimᵊḵā שֵׁם name בְּ bᵊ בְּ in כָל־ ḵol- כֹּל whole הָ hā הַ the אָ֑רֶץ ʔˈāreṣ אֶרֶץ earth אֲשֶׁ֥ר ʔᵃšˌer אֲשֶׁר [relative] תְּנָ֥ה tᵊnˌā תנה recount הֹ֝ודְךָ֗ ˈhôḏᵊḵˈā הֹוד splendour עַל־ ʕal- עַל upon הַ ha הַ the שָּׁמָֽיִם׃ ššāmˈāyim שָׁמַיִם heavens
8:1. victori pro torcularibus canticum DavidUnto the end, for the presses: a psalm for David.
For the Chief Musician; set to the Gittith. A Psalm of David.
[35] To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David:

8:1 Начальнику хора. На Гефском {орудии}. Псалом Давида.
8:1
εἰς εις into; for
τὸ ο the
τέλος τελος completion; sales tax
ὑπὲρ υπερ over; for
τῶν ο the
ληνῶν ληνος trough; vat
ψαλμὸς ψαλμος psalm
τῷ ο the
Δαυιδ δαβιδ Dabid; Thavith
8:1
לַ la לְ to
† הַ the
מְנַצֵּ֥חַ mᵊnaṣṣˌēₐḥ נצח prevail
עַֽל־ ʕˈal- עַל upon
הַ ha הַ the
גִּתִּ֗ית ggittˈîṯ גִּתִּית [uncertain]
מִזְמֹ֥ור mizmˌôr מִזְמֹור psalm
לְ lᵊ לְ to
דָוִֽד׃ ḏāwˈiḏ דָּוִד David
יְהוָ֤ה [yᵊhwˈāh] יְהוָה YHWH
אֲדֹנֵ֗ינוּ ʔᵃḏōnˈênû אָדֹון lord
מָֽה־ mˈā- מָה what
אַדִּ֣יר ʔaddˈîr אַדִּיר mighty
שִׁ֭מְךָ ˈšimᵊḵā שֵׁם name
בְּ bᵊ בְּ in
כָל־ ḵol- כֹּל whole
הָ hā הַ the
אָ֑רֶץ ʔˈāreṣ אֶרֶץ earth
אֲשֶׁ֥ר ʔᵃšˌer אֲשֶׁר [relative]
תְּנָ֥ה tᵊnˌā תנה recount
הֹ֝ודְךָ֗ ˈhôḏᵊḵˈā הֹוד splendour
עַל־ ʕal- עַל upon
הַ ha הַ the
שָּׁמָֽיִם׃ ššāmˈāyim שָׁמַיִם heavens
8:1. victori pro torcularibus canticum David
Unto the end, for the presses: a psalm for David.
For the Chief Musician; set to the Gittith. A Psalm of David.
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Matthew Henry: Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible - 1706
Glory of God in His Works.

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.
The psalmist here sets himself to give to God the glory due to his name. Dr. Hammond grounds a conjecture upon the title of this psalm concerning the occasion of penning it. It is said to be upon Gittith, which is generally taken for the tune, or musical instrument, with which this psalm was to be sung; but he renders it upon the Gittite, that is, Goliath the Gittite, whom he vanquished and slew (1 Sam. xvii.); that enemy was stilled by him who was, in comparison, but a babe and a suckling. The conjecture would be probable enough but that we find two other psalms with the same title, Ps. lxxxi. and lxxxiv.. Two things David here admires:--
I. How plainly God displays his glory himself, v. 1. He addresses himself to God with all humility and reverence, as the Lord and his people's Lord: O Lord our Lord! If we believe that God is the Lord, we must avouch and acknowledge him to be ours. He is ours, for he made us, protects us, and takes special care of us. He must be ours, for we are bound to obey him and submit to him; we must own the relation, not only when we come to pray to God, as a plea with him to show us mercy, but when we come to praise him, as an argument with ourselves to give him glory: and we shall never think we can do that with affection enough if we consider, 1. How brightly God's glory shines even in this lower world: How excellent is his name in all the earth! The works of creation and Providence evince and proclaim to all the world that there is an infinite Being, the fountain of all being, power, and perfection, the sovereign ruler, powerful protector, and bountiful benefactor of all the creatures. How great, how illustrious, how magnificent, is his name in all the earth! The light of it shines in men's faces every where (Rom. i. 20); if they shut their eyes against it, that is their fault. There is no speech or language but the voice of God's name either is heard in it or may be. But this looks further, to the gospel of Christ, by which the name of God, as it is notified by divine revelation, which before was great in Israel only, came to be so in all the earth, the utmost ends of which have thus been made to see God's great salvation, Mark xvi. 15, 16. 2. How much more brightly it shines in the upper world: Thou hast set thy glory above the heavens. (1.) God is infinitely more glorious and excellent than the noblest of creatures and those that shine most brightly. (2.) Whereas we, on this earth, only hear God's excellent name, and praise that, the angels and blessed spirits above see his glory, and praise that, and yet he is exalted far above even their blessing and praise. (3.) In the exaltation of the Lord Jesus to the right hand of God, who is the brightness of his Father's glory and the express image of his person, God set his glory above the heavens, far above all principalities and powers.
II. How powerfully he proclaims it by the weakest of his creatures (v. 2): Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, or perfected praise, the praise of thy strength, Matt. xxi. 16. This intimates the glory of God, 1. In the kingdom of nature. The care God takes of little children (when they first come into the world the most helpless of all animals), the special protection they are under, and the provision nature has made for them, ought to be acknowledged by every one of us, to the glory of God, as a great instance of his power and goodness, and the more sensibly because we have all had the benefit of it, for to this we owe it that we died not from the womb, that the knees then prevented us, and the breasts, that we should suck. "This is such an instance of thy goodness, as may for ever put to silence the enemies of thy glory, who say, There is no God." 2. In the kingdom of Providence. In the government of this lower world he makes use of the children of men, some that know him and others that do not (Isa. xlv. 4), and these such as have been babes and sucklings; nay, sometimes he is pleased to serve his own purposes by the ministry of such as are still, in wisdom and strength, little better than babes and sucklings. 3. In the kingdom of grace, the kingdom of the Messiah. It is here foretold that by the apostles, who were looked upon but as babes, unlearned and ignorant men (Acts iv. 13), mean and despicable, and by the foolishness of their preaching, the devil's kingdom should be thrown down as Jericho's walls were by the sound of rams' horns. The gospel is called the arm of the Lord and the rod of his strength; this was ordained to work wonders, not out of the mouth of philosophers or orators, politicians or statesmen, but of a company of poor fishermen, who lay under the greatest external disadvantages; yea, we hear children crying, Hosanna to the Son of David, when the chief priests and Pharisees owned him not, but despised and rejected him; to that therefore our Saviour applied this (Matt. xxi. 16) and by it stilled the enemy. Sometimes the grace of God appears wonderfully in young children, and he teaches those knowledge, and makes those to understand doctrine, who are but newly weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts, Isa. xxviii. 9. Sometimes the power of God brings to pass great things in his church by very weak and unlikely instruments, and confounds the noble, wise, and mighty, by the base, and weak, and foolish things of the world, that no flesh may glory in his presence, but the excellency of the power may the more evidently appear to be of God, and not of man, 1 Cor. i. 27, 28. This he does because of his enemies, because they are insolent and haughty, that he may still them, may put them to silence, and put them to shame, and so be justly avenged on the avengers; see Acts iv. 14; vi. 10. The devil is the great enemy and avenger, and by the preaching of the gospel he was in a great measure stilled, his oracles were silenced, the advocates of his cause were confounded, and unclean spirits themselves were not suffered to speak.
In singing this let us give God the glory of his great name, and of the great things he has done by the power of his gospel, in the chariot of which the exalted Redeemer rides forth conquering and to conquer, and ought to be attended, not only with our praises, but with our best wishes. Praise is perfected (that is, God is in the highest degree glorified) when strength is ordained out of the mouth of babes and sucklings.
Adam Clarke: Commentary on the Bible - 1831
8:1: O Lord our Lord - יהוה אדנינו Yehovah Adoneynu; O Jehovah our Prop, our Stay, or Support. אדני Adonai is frequently used: sometimes, indeed often, for the word יהוה Yehovah itself. The root דן dan signifies to direct, rule, judge, support. So Adonai is the Director, Ruler, Judge, Supporter of men. It is well joined with Jehovah; this showing what God is in himself; that, what God is to man; and may here very properly refer to our Lord Jesus.
How excellent is thy name in all the earth! - How illustrious is the name of Jesus throughout the world! His incarnation, birth, humble and obscure life, preaching, miracles, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension, are celebrated through the whole world. His religion, the gifts and graces of his Spirit, his people - Christians - his Gospel and the preachers of it are everywhere spoken of. No name is so universal, no power and influence so generally felt, as those of the Savior of mankind. Amen.
Thy glory above the heavens - The heavens are glorious, the most glorious of all the works of God which the eye of man can reach; but the glory of God is infinitely above even these. The words also seem to intimate that no power, earthly or diabolical, can lessen or injure that glory. The glory and honor which God has by the Gospel shall last through time, and through eternity; and of that glory none shall be able to rob him, to whom majesty and dominion are eternally due. This has been applied by some to the resurrection of our Lord. He rose from the dead, and ascended above all heavens; and by these his glory was sealed, his mission accomplished, and the last proof given to his preceding miracles.
Albert Barnes: Notes on the Bible - 1834
8:1: O Lord - Hebrew, יהוה Yahweh. It is an address to God by his chosen and special title, Exo 3:14. Compare the notes at Isa 1:2.
Our Lord - The word used here - אדני 'â dô nay - means properly master, lord, ruler, owner, and is such a title as is given to an owner of land or of slaves, to kings, or to rulers, and is applied to God as being the ruler or governor of the universe. The meaning here is, that the psalmist acknowledged Yahweh to be the rightful ruler, king, or master of himself and of all others. He comes before him with the feeling that Yahweh is the universal ruler - the king and proprietor of all things.
How excellent is thy name - How excellent or exalted art thou - the name being often used to denote the person. The idea is," How glorious art thou in thy manifested excellence or character."
In all the earth - In all parts of the world. That is, the manifestation of his perfect character was not confined to any one country, but was seen in all lands, and among all people. In every place his true character was made known through His works; in every land there were evidences of his wisdom, his greatness, his goodness, his condescension.
Who hast set thy glory above the heavens - The word used here, and rendered "hast set," is in the imperative mood - תנה tenâ h - give; and it should probably have been so rendered here, "which thy glory give thou;" that is, "which glory of thine, or implied in thy name, give or place above the heavens." In other words, let it he exalted in the highest degree, and to the highest place, even above the heavens on which he was gazing, and which were in themselves so grand, Psa 8:3. It expresses the wish or prayer of the writer that the name or praise of God, so manifest in the earth, might be exalted in the highest possible degree - be more elevated than the moon and the stars - exalted and adored in all worlds. In His name there was such intrinsic grandeur that he desired that it might be regarded as the highest object in the universe, and might blaze forth above all worlds. On the grammatical construction of this word - תנה tenâ h - see an article by Prof. Stuart, in the Bibliotheca Sacra, vol. ix. pp. 73-77. Prof. Stuart supposes that the word is not formed from נתן nâ than - to give, as is the common explanation, but from תנה tâ nâ h - to give presents, to distribute gifts, Hos 8:9-10, and that it should be rendered, Thou who diffusest abroad thy glory over the heavens.
R. A. Torrey - Treasury: Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge - 1880
8:1: our: Psa 8:9, Psa 63:1, Psa 145:1; Isa 26:13; Mat 22:45; Joh 20:28; Phi 2:11, Phi 3:8; Rev 19:6
how: Psa 72:17-19, Psa 113:2-4, Psa 148:13; Exo 15:11, Exo 34:5-7; Deu 28:58; Sol 5:16
thy: Psa 36:5, Psa 57:10, Psa 57:11, Psa 68:4, Psa 108:4, Psa 108:5; Kg1 8:27; Hab 3:3; Eph 4:10; Phi 2:9, Phi 2:10; Heb 7:26
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch
8:1
(Heb.: 8:2-3) Here, for the first time, the subject speaking in the Psalm is not one individual, but a number of persons; and who should they be but the church of Jahve, which (as in Neh 10:30) can call Jahve its Lord (אדנינוּ, like אדני from אדנים plur. excellentiae, Ges. ֗108, 2); but knowing also at the same time that what it has become by grace it is called to be for the good of the whole earth? The שׁם of God is the impress (cognate Arabic wasm, a sign, Greek σῆμα) of His nature, which we see in His works of creation and His acts of salvation, a nature which can only be known from this visible and comprehensible representation (nomen = gnomen).
(Note: Cf. Oehler's art. Name in Herzog's Real-Encyklopdie.)
This name of God is certainly not yet so known and praised everywhere, as the church to which it has been made known by a positive revelation can know and praise it; but, nevertheless, it, viz., the divine name uttered in creation and its works, by which God has made Himself known and capable of being recognised and named, ifs אדּיר amplum et gloriosum, everywhere through out the earth, even if it were entirely without any echo. The clause with אשׁר must not be rendered: Who, do Thou be pleased to put Thy glory upon the heavens (Gesenius even: quam tuam magnificentiam pone in caelis), for such a use of the imperat. after אשׁר is unheard of; and, moreover, although it is true a thought admissible in its connection with the redemptive history (Ps 57:6, 12) is thus obtained, it is here, however, one that runs counter to the fundamental tone, and to the circumstances, of the Psalm. For the primary thought of the Psalm is this, that the God, whose glory the heavens reflect, has also glorified Himself in the earth and in man; and the situation of the poet is this, that he has the moon and stars before his eyes: how then could he wish that heaven to be made glorious whose glory is shining into his eyes! It is just as impracticable to take תּנה as a contraction of נתנה, like תּתּה 2Kings 22:41, = נתתּה, as Ammonius and others, and last of all Bhl, have done, or with Thenius (Stud. u. Krit. 1860 S. 712f.) to read it so at once. For even if the thought: "which (the earth) gives (announces) Thy glory all over the heavens" is not contrary to the connection, and if נתן עז, Ps 68:34, and נתן כבוד, Jer 13:16, can be compared with this נתן הוד, still the phrase נתן הוד על means nothing but to lay majesty on any one, to clothe him with it, Num 27:20; 1Chron 29:25; Dan 11:21, cf. Ps 21:6; and this is just the thought one looks for, viz., that the name of the God, who has put His glory upon the heavens (Ps 148:13) is also glorious here below. We must, therefore, take תּנה, although it is always the form of the imper. elsewhere, as infin., just as רדה occurs once in Gen 46:3 as infin. (like the Arab. rı̆da a giving to drink, lı̆da a bringing forth - forms to which לדה and the like in Hebrew certainly more exactly correspond).
תּנה הודך signifies the setting of Thy glory (prop. τὸ τιθέναι τὴν δόξαν σου) just like דּעה את־ה the knowledge of Jahve, and Obad. Ps 8:5, שׂים קנּך, probably the setting of thy nest, Ges. 133. 1. It may be interpreted: O Thou whose laying of Thy glory is upon the heavens, i.e., Thou who hast chosen this as the place on which Thou hast laid Thy glory (Hengst.). In accordance with this Jerome translates it: qui posuisti gloriam tuam super caelos. Thus also the Syriac version with the Targum: dejabt (דיהבת) shubhoch 'al shemajo, and Symmachus: ὃς ἔταξας τὸν ἔπαινόν σου ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν. This use of the nomen verbale and the genitival relation of אשׁר to תּנה הודך, which is taken as one notion, is still remarkable. Hitzig considers that no reasonable man would think and write thus: but thereby at the same time utterly condemns his own conjecture תּן ההודך (whose extending of glory over the heavens). This, moreover, goes beyond the limits of the language, which is only acquainted with תּן as the name of an animal. All difficulty would vanish if one might, with Hupfeld, read נתתּה. But תנה has not the slightest appearance of being a corruption of נתתה. It might be more readily supposed that תּנה is an erroneous pointing for תּנה (to stretch or extend, cf. Hos 8:10 to stretch forth, distribute): Thou whose glory stretches over the heavens, - an interpretation which is more probable than that it is, with Paulus and Kurtz, to be read תּנּה: Thou whose glory is praised (pass. of the תּנּה in Judg 5:11; Judg 11:40, which belongs to the dialect of Northern Palestine), instead of which one would more readily expect יתנּה. The verbal notion, which is tacitly implied in Ps 113:4; Ps 148:13, would then be expressed here. But perhaps the author wrote תּנה הודך instead of נתתּ הודך, because he wishes to describe the setting out of the heavens with divine splendour
(Note: In the first Sidonian inscription אדּיר occurs as a by-name of the heavens (שמם אדרם).)
as being constantly repeated and not as done once for all. There now follows, in Ps 8:3, the confirmation of Ps 8:2: also all over the earth, despite its distance from the heavens above, Jahve's name is glorious; for even children, yea even sucklings glorify him there, and in fact not mutely and passively by their mere existence, but with their mouth. עולל (= מעולל), or עולל is a child that is more mature and capable of spontaneous action, from עולל (Poel of עלל ludere),
(Note: According to this derivation עולל (cf. Beduin עאלול, ‛âlûl a young ox) is related to תּעלוּל; whereas עוּל as a synonym of יונק signifies one who is supported, sustained. For the radical signification of עוּל according to the Arabic ‛âl, fut. o. is "to weigh heavy, to be heavy, to lie upon; to have anything incumbent upon one's self, to carry, support, preserve," whence ‛ajjil the maintained child of the house, and (ajjila (Damascene ‛êla) he who is dependent upon one for support and the family depending upon the paterfamilias for sustenance. Neither Arab. ‛âl, fut. o., nor gâl, fut. i. usually applied to a pregnant woman who still suckles, has the direct signification to suckle. Moreover, the demon Ghul does not receive its name from swallowing up or sucking out (Ges.), but from destroying (Arab. gâl, fut. o.).)
according to 1Kings 22:19; Ps 15:3, distinct from יונק, i.e., a suckling, not, however, infans, but, - since the Hebrew women were accustomed to suckle their children for a long period, - a little child which is able to lisp and speak (vid., 2 Macc. 7:27). Out of the mouth of beings such as these Jahve has founded for Himself עז. The lxx translates it the utterance of praise, αἶνον; and עז certainly sometimes has the meaning of power ascribed to God in praise, and so a laudatory acknowledgment of His might; but this is only when connected with verbs of giving, Ps 29:1; Ps 68:35; Ps 96:7. In itself, when standing alone, it cannot mean this. It is in this passage: might, or victorious power, which God creates for Himself out of the mouths of children that confess Him. This offensive and defensive power, as Luther has observed on this passage, is conceived of as a strong building, עז as מעוז (Jer 16:19) i.e., a fortress, refuge, bulwark, fortification, for the foundation of which He has taken the mouth, i.e., the stammering of children; and this He has done because of His enemies, to restrain (השׁבּית to cause any one to sit or lie down, rest, to put him to silence, e.g., Is 16:10; Ezek 7:24) such as are enraged against Him and His, and are inspired with a thirst for vengeance which expresses itself in curses (the same combination is found in Ps 44:17). Those meant, are the fierce and calumniating opponents of revelation. Jahve has placed the mouth of children in opposition to these, as a strong defensive controversive power. He has chosen that which is foolish and weak in the eyes of the world to put to shame the wise and that which is strong (1Cor 1:27). It is by obscure and naturally feeble instruments that He makes His name glorious here below. and overcomes whatsoever is opposed to this glorifying.
John Gill
8:1 O Lord our God,.... Jehovah, the one God, who is Lord of all angels and men, and in an especial manner Lord and King of saints;
how excellent is thy name in all the earth! by the "name" of God is not meant any particular name of his, by which he is called; but either himself, his nature and perfections; or rather that by which he is made known, and particularly his Gospel; see Jn 17:6; this is excellent in its nature, it being good news, and glad tidings of good things, which display the love, grace, mercy, and kindness of God to men, as well as his wisdom, power, truth, and faithfulness; and in the subject matter of it, Christ and his righteousness, and life and salvation by him, the spiritual blessings of grace it publishes, and the exceeding great and precious promises it contains; and in its usefulness for the enlightening, quickening, and converting sinners, and for the comforting and reviving of drooping saints. It is the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, and excels the law in glory. It cannot well be said how glorious it is; it is marvellously excellent; and that "in all the earth", being carried by the apostles, who were sent by Christ with it, into all the world; where it has shone out, and appeared gloriously to Gentiles as well as Jews. This clause shows that this is said by David prophetically of Gospel times; for not in his time, nor in any period under the Old Testament, was the name of the Lord glorious and excellent in all the earth. His name was great in Israel, but not in all the world. He showed his word, and gave his statutes and ordinances to Jacob; but as for the Gentiles, they were without them, and were strangers to the covenants of promise, Ps 76:1; but this was true of the first times of the Gospel; and will be still more fully accomplished when the prophecies in Mal 1:11; shall be fulfilled;
who hast set thy glory above the heavens: meaning his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the brightness of his glory; in whom is all the fulness of the Godhead, the glory of all the divine perfections; so called Ps 63:2; and the setting of him above the heavens designs the exaltation of him at the right hand of God; where angels, principalities, and powers, became subject to him, and he was made higher than the heavens, Heb 7:26. And it was in consequence, and by virtue of this, that the Gospel was spread throughout the earth; for upon Christ's exaltation the Spirit was poured down upon the apostles, and they were endowed with girls qualifying them to carry the Gospel into each of the parts of the world.
John Wesley
8:1 In - Not only in Israel, but among all nations. Which shews that this psalm speaks of the Messiah, and the times of the New Testament. Heavens - Where thy throne of glory is established, where the blessed angels celebrate thy praises, where Christ sitteth at thy right hand in glorious majesty, from whence he poureth down excellent gifts upon babes.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown
8:1 Upon [or according to the] Gittith, probably means that the musical performance was directed to be according to a tune of that name; which, derived from Gath, a "wine-press," denotes a tune (used in connection with gathering the vintage) of a joyous character. All the Psalms to which this term is prefixed [Ps 8:1; Ps 81:1; Ps 84:1] are of such a character. The Psalmist gives vent to his admiration of God's manifested perfections, by celebrating His condescending and beneficent providence to man as evinced by the position of the race, as originally created and assigned a dominion over the works of His hands. (Ps 8:1-9)
thy name--perfections (Ps 5:11; Ps 7:17).
who hast set--literally, "which set Thou Thy glory," &c., or "which glory of Thine set Thou," &c., that is, make it more conspicuous as if earth were too small a theater for its display. A similar exposition suits the usual rendering.
8:28:2: Տէր Տէր մեր՝ զի սքանչելի՛ է անուն քո յամենայն երկրի։ Համբարձաւ մեծվայելչութիւն քո ՚ի վերո՛յ քան զերկինս[6601]. [6601] Ոմանք.Անուն քո ՚ի վերայ ամենայն երկ՛՛։
2 Տէ՛ր, ո՛վ մեր Տէր, ի՜նչ հրաշալի է քո անունը ողջ աշխարհում: Քո փառքը բարձրացաւ երկնքից վեր:
8 Ո՛վ Տէր, մեր Տէրը, Ի՜նչ փառաւոր է քու անունդ բոլոր երկրի վրայ, Որ քու փառքդ երկինքներէն վեր դրիր։
Տէր, Տէր մեր, զի՜ սքանչելի է անուն քո յամենայն երկրի, համբարձաւ մեծվայելչութիւն քո ի վերոյ քան զերկինս:

8:2: Տէր Տէր մեր՝ զի սքանչելի՛ է անուն քո յամենայն երկրի։ Համբարձաւ մեծվայելչութիւն քո ՚ի վերո՛յ քան զերկինս[6601].
[6601] Ոմանք.Անուն քո ՚ի վերայ ամենայն երկ՛՛։
2 Տէ՛ր, ո՛վ մեր Տէր, ի՜նչ հրաշալի է քո անունը ողջ աշխարհում: Քո փառքը բարձրացաւ երկնքից վեր:
8 Ո՛վ Տէր, մեր Տէրը, Ի՜նչ փառաւոր է քու անունդ բոլոր երկրի վրայ, Որ քու փառքդ երկինքներէն վեր դրիր։
zohrab-1805▾ eastern-1994▾ western am▾
8:18:2 Господи, Боже наш! как величественно имя Твое по всей земле! Слава Твоя простирается превыше небес!
8:2 κύριε κυριος lord; master ὁ ο the κύριος κυριος lord; master ἡμῶν ημων our ὡς ως.1 as; how θαυμαστὸν θαυμαστος wonderful τὸ ο the ὄνομά ονομα name; notable σου σου of you; your ἐν εν in πάσῃ πας all; every τῇ ο the γῇ γη earth; land ὅτι οτι since; that ἐπήρθη επαιρω lift up; rear up ἡ ο the μεγαλοπρέπειά μεγαλοπρεπεια of you; your ὑπεράνω υπερανω up / far above τῶν ο the οὐρανῶν ουρανος sky; heaven
8:2 מִ mi מִן from פִּ֤י ppˈî פֶּה mouth עֹֽולְלִ֨ים׀ ʕˈôlᵊlˌîm עֹולֵל child וְֽ wᵊˈ וְ and יֹנְקִים֮ yōnᵊqîm ינק suck יִסַּ֪דְתָּ֫ yissˈaḏtˈā יסד found עֹ֥ז ʕˌōz עֹז power לְמַ֥עַן lᵊmˌaʕan לְמַעַן because of צֹורְרֶ֑יךָ ṣôrᵊrˈeʸḵā צרר be hostile לְ lᵊ לְ to הַשְׁבִּ֥ית hašbˌîṯ שׁבת cease אֹ֝ויֵ֗ב ˈʔôyˈēv איב be hostile וּ û וְ and מִתְנַקֵּֽם׃ miṯnaqqˈēm נקם avenge
8:2. Domine Dominator noster quam grande est nomen tuum in universa terra qui posuisti gloriam tuam super caelosO Lord, our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth! For thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens.
1. O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory upon the heavens.
O LORD our Lord, how excellent [is] thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens:

8:2 Господи, Боже наш! как величественно имя Твое по всей земле! Слава Твоя простирается превыше небес!
8:2
κύριε κυριος lord; master
ὁ ο the
κύριος κυριος lord; master
ἡμῶν ημων our
ὡς ως.1 as; how
θαυμαστὸν θαυμαστος wonderful
τὸ ο the
ὄνομά ονομα name; notable
σου σου of you; your
ἐν εν in
πάσῃ πας all; every
τῇ ο the
γῇ γη earth; land
ὅτι οτι since; that
ἐπήρθη επαιρω lift up; rear up
ἡ ο the
μεγαλοπρέπειά μεγαλοπρεπεια of you; your
ὑπεράνω υπερανω up / far above
τῶν ο the
οὐρανῶν ουρανος sky; heaven
8:2
מִ mi מִן from
פִּ֤י ppˈî פֶּה mouth
עֹֽולְלִ֨ים׀ ʕˈôlᵊlˌîm עֹולֵל child
וְֽ wᵊˈ וְ and
יֹנְקִים֮ yōnᵊqîm ינק suck
יִסַּ֪דְתָּ֫ yissˈaḏtˈā יסד found
עֹ֥ז ʕˌōz עֹז power
לְמַ֥עַן lᵊmˌaʕan לְמַעַן because of
צֹורְרֶ֑יךָ ṣôrᵊrˈeʸḵā צרר be hostile
לְ lᵊ לְ to
הַשְׁבִּ֥ית hašbˌîṯ שׁבת cease
אֹ֝ויֵ֗ב ˈʔôyˈēv איב be hostile
וּ û וְ and
מִתְנַקֵּֽם׃ miṯnaqqˈēm נקם avenge
8:2. Domine Dominator noster quam grande est nomen tuum in universa terra qui posuisti gloriam tuam super caelos
O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth! For thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens.
1. O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory upon the heavens.
ru▾ LXX-gloss▾ bhs-gloss▾ vulgate▾ erva_1895▾
jfb▾ jw▾ jg▾ gnv▾ tr▾ ab▾ ac▾ tb▾ all ▾
А. П. Лопухин: Tолковая Библия или комментарий на все книги Св.Писания Ветхого и Нового Заветов - 1903-1914
2. "Земля" и "небеса" можно понимать двояко. Под землей разумеется все тварное на земном шаре, которое разнообразием, красотой своих предметов, разумным их устройством ясно говорит о величии Творца их. О том же говорят и небеса, светила небесные и все атмосферные и астрономические явления. В святоотеческой литературе под землею разумеются люди, под небесами - мир ангелов. Те и другие восхваляют Бога. Первое понимание более согласно с последующим содержанием псалма.
Adam Clarke: Commentary on the Bible - 1831
8:2: Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings - We have seen how our Lord applied this passage to the Jewish children, who, seeing his miracles, cried out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" Mat 21:16. And we have seen how the enemy and the avenger - the chief priests and the scribes - were offended because of these things; and as the Psalm wholly concerns Jesus Christ, it is most probable that in this act of the Jewish children the prophecy had its primary fulfillment; and was left to the Jews as a witness and a sign of the Messiah, which they should have acknowledged when our Lord directed their attention to it.
There is also a very obvious sense in which the mouths of babes and sucklings show forth the praises of God; viz., the means by which they derive their first nourishment. In order to extract the milk from the breasts of their mothers, they are obliged to empty their own mouths entirely of air, that the eternal air, pressing on the breast, may force the milk through its proper canals into the mouth of the child, where there is no resistance, the child having extracted all air from its own mouth which in this case resembles a perfectly exhausted receiver on the plate of an airpump; and the action of sucking is performed on the same principle that the receiver is exhausted by the working of the airpump. Of this curious pneumatic action the child is capable the moment it breathes; and, its strength considered, performs it as perfectly the first hour as it does in any other period of its childhood or infancy. What does all this argue? Why instinct. And pray what is instinct? You cannot tell. But here is an operation by which the pure Boylean vacuum is made; and this by an infant without any previous teaching! Do you suppose that this is an easy operation, and that it requires little skill? You are mistaken. You have done this yourself while an infant under the sole guidance of God. Can you do it now? You are startled! Shall I tell you what appears to you a secret? There is not one in ten thousand adults, who have had their first nourishment from the breasts of their mothers who can perform the same operation again! And those who have had occasion to practice it have found great difficulty to learn that art which, in the first moment of their birth, they performed to perfection! Here is the finger of God; and here, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, he has ordained such a strength of evidence and argument in favor of his being his providence, and his goodness, as is sufficient to still and confound every infidel and atheist in the universe, all the enemies of righteousness, and all the vindicators of desperate and hopeless causes and systems.
The words may also be applied to the apostles and primitive preachers of the Gospel; to the simple and comparatively unlearned followers of Christ, who, through his teaching, were able to confound the wise among the Jews, and the mighty among the heathens: and in this sense our Lord uses the term babes, Mat 11:25 : "I thank thee, O Father - because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes."
We may also witness, in the experience of multitudes of simple people who have been, by the preaching of the Gospel, converted from the error of their ways, such a strength of testimony in favor of the work of God in the heart and his effectual teaching in the mind, as is calculated to still, or reduce to silence, every thing but bigotry and prejudice, neither of which has either eyes or ears. This teaching, and these changing or converting influences, come from God. They are not acquired by human learning; and those who put this in the place of the Divine teaching never grow wise to salvation. To enter into the kingdom of heaven, a Man must become as a little child.
Albert Barnes: Notes on the Bible - 1834
8:2: Out of the mouth - This passage is quoted by the Saviour in Mat 21:16, to vindicate the conduct of the children in the temple crying, "Hosanna to the Son of David," against the objections of the Pharisees and Scribes, and is perhaps alluded to by him in Mat 11:25. It is not affirmed, however, in either place, that it had an original reference to the times of the Messiah, or that it was meant, as used by the psalmist, to denote that children would be employed in the praise of God. The language sufficiently expressed the idea which the Saviour meant to convey; and the princip e or great truth involved in the psalm was applicable to the use which he made of it. The language would, perhaps, most naturally denote that infant children would give utterance to the praises of God, as the word "mouth" is used; but still it is not quite certain that the psalmist meant to convey that idea. It is probable, as we shall see, that he meant to say, God had conferred great honor on men - men so humble and weak that they might be compared to infants - by making them the means of overthrowing his enemies, thus showing the greatness of the divine condescension.
Babes - The word used here - עולל ‛ ô lê l - means properly a boy or child, and is usually connected with the word rendered sucklings, Jer 44:7; Lam 2:11. It is applied to a boy playing in the streets, Jer 6:11; Jer 9:21; asking for bread, Lam 4:4,; carried away captive, Lam 1:5; borne in the arms, Lam 2:20; and once to an unborn infant, Job 3:16. It refers here to a child, or to one who is like a child; and the idea is that those to whom it is applied were naturally unable to accomplish what was done by them, and that God had honored them, and had shown his own condescension, by making them the instruments of doing what they had done.
And sucklings - The word used here - יונק yô neq - means a suckling, or a suckling child, a babe, Deu 32:25. It may be used literally, or employed to denote one who, in respect to strength, may be compared with a babe. The latter is probably the use made of it here.
Hast thou ordained strength - The word rendered ordained - יסד yâ sad - means to found, to lay the foundation of, as of a building, Ezr 3:12; Isa 54:11. Then it means to establish, appoint, ordain, constitute, etc. The meaning here is, that in what is referred to, there was, as it were, some basis or foundation for what is called "strength;" that is, that what is here meant by "strength" rested on that as a foundation - to wit, on what was done by babes and sucklings. The word "strength" is rendered by the Septuagint as "praise" - αἷνον ainon - and this is followed in the quotation in Mat 21:16. The same rendering is adopted in the Latin Vulgate and in the Syriac. The Hebrew word - עז ‛ ô z - properly means strength, might; and the idea here would seem to be, that even from babes and sucklings - from those who were in themselves so feeble - God had taken occasion to accomplish a work requiring great power - to wit, in "stilling the enemy and the avenger;" that is, he had made those who were so feeble the instruments of accomplishing so great a work.
Because of thine enemies - In respect to thine enemies, or in order to accomplish something in regard to them, namely, in stilling them, as is immediately specified. The idea is, that there were those who rose up against God, and opposed his government and plans, and that God, in overcoming them, instead of putting forth his own power directly, had condescended to employ those who were weak and feeble like little children. Who these enemies were is not specified, but it is most natural to suppose that the reference is to some of the foes of the author of the psalm, who had been subdued by the prowess of his arm - by strength imparted to him, though in himself feeble as an infant.
That thou mightest still - Mightest cause to rest, or to cease. The original word - שׁבת shâ bath - from which our word Sabbath is derived, means to rest; to lie by; to sit down; to sit still; and in the Hiphil, to cause to rest, or to cause to desist; to put an end to, Eze 34:10; Jos 22:25; Psa 46:9; Pro 18:18. Here it means to bring to an end the purposes of the enemy and the avenger; or, to cause him to desist from his designs.
The enemy - The enemy of the writer, regarded also as the enemy of God.
And the avenger - One who was endeavoring to take Rev_enge, or who was acting as if determined to avenge some imaginary or real wrong. This, too, may refer either to some one who was seeking to Rev_enge himself on the author of the psalm, or who, with the spirit of Rev_enge, stood up against God, and had set himself against him.
In regard to the meaning of this verse, which I apprehend is the key to the whole psalm, and which contains the original germ of the psalm, or the thought which suggested the train of reflection in it, the following remarks may be made:
(a) There is no evidence that it was designed to refer originally to infants, or to children of any age, as stating anything which they would do in contributing to the praise of God, or as defeating sceptics and cavillers by "their instinctive recognition of God's being and glory," as is supposed by Calvin, DeWette, Prof. Alexander, and others. What is said here to be done by "babes and sucklings" has reference to some mighty enemy that had been overcome, not to anything which had been effected by the influence of the recognition of God by little children. It may be doubted, also, whether there is any such "instinctive admiration of his works, even by the youngest children," as would be "a strong defense against those who would question the being and glory" of God, as is supposed by Prof. Alexander and others; and, at all events, that is not the manifest thought in the passage.
(b) Nor does it refer merely to praise as proceeding from children, as being that by which the effect referred to is accomplished. It is true that this idea is in the translation by the Septuagint, and true that it is so quoted in Mat 21:16, and true, also, that, as quoted by the Saviour, and as originally applied, it was adapted to the end which the Saviour had in view - to silence the chief priests and Scribes, who objected to the praises and hosannas of the children in the temple, for the psalm, on any interpretation, originally meant that God would accomplish good effects by those who were feeble and weak as children, and this principle was applicable to the praises of the children in the temple. But it does not appear that it originally referred to praise, either of children or others. It was to some manifested strength or prowess, by which some enemy, or some one who was seeking Rev_enge, was overcome by the instrumentality of those who might be compared with children on account of their feebleness. From this the psalmist takes occasion to make his reflections on the exalted honor conferred in general on a creature so weak and feeble as man, especially in the wide dominion granted him over the inferior creation.
(c) This was, not improbably, some enemy of the author of the psalm; but who it was is not mentioned. David was often, however, in the course of his life, in such circumstances as are here supposed. Might it not refer to Goliath of Gath - a mighty giant, and a formidable enemy of the people of God, overcome by David, quite a stripling - a child? Would not the language of the psalm agree with that? Was it not true that he was an "enemy" and an "avenger," or one socking Rev_enge? and was it not true that God had, from one who was a mere child, "ordained strength" to subdue him?
(d) God had, then, condescended to honor one who was in himself weak and feeble as a child - who had no power of himself to accomplish what had been done.
(e) This was great condescension on the part of God; and especially was it to be so regarded when the eye looked out - as the author of the psalm appears to have done at the time of its composition - on the starry heavens, and contemplated their greatness and grandeur. What astonishing condescension was it that he who marshalled all those hosts should bestow such honor on man!
(f) It was not, therefore, unnatural to reflect on the greatness of the honor which God had actually bestowed on man, and the dignity to which God had exalted him; and the psalmist is thus, from a particular act of his condescension, led into the beautiful train of reflections on the exalted dominion of man with which the psalm concludes. Thus understood, the psalm has no orignal reference to the Messiah, but still it contains the principle on which the apostle reasons in Heb. 2, for the dignity of man is most seen in the Redeemer, and the actual conferring of all the dignity and honor referred to in the psalm - the actual and entire subjugation of the earth to man - will be found only in the universal dominion conceded to Him. At the same time, however, there is a foundation for all that the psalmist says in respect to the honor originally conferred on man, and in his actual dominion over the inferior creation.
R. A. Torrey - Treasury: Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge - 1880
8:2: Out: Mat 11:25, Mat 21:16; Luk 10:21; Co1 1:27
ordained: Heb. founded
strength: Psa 84:5-7; Isa 40:31; Amo 5:9; Co2 12:9, Co2 12:10
still: Psa 4:4, Psa 46:10; Exo 11:7, Exo 15:16; Jos 2:9-11; Sa1 2:9; Isa 37:20-29, Isa 37:36-38; Hab 2:20
the enemy: Psa 44:16
Geneva 1599
8:2 Out of the mouth (a) of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
(a) Though the wicked would hide God's praises, yet the very babes are sufficient witnesses of the same.
John Gill
8:2 Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings,.... Not literally such, though the Jewish writers (e) generally so understand it; as do some Christian interpreters, who explain it of the wonderful formation, nourishment, and growth of infants; and of the marvellous care of God in providing the breast for them; in filling it with milk, and teaching them to suck; which, being observed by men, occasion praise to God, to the confusion of atheists and infidels. But this is no other than what is common to brute creatures: rather the words are to be understood in a figurative sense. So Jarchi applies them to the priests and Levites in the temple: but it is best to interpret them of the apostles and first preachers of the Gospel; and of such who received it and professed it; who were in their own eyes, and in the eyes of the world, as babes and sucklings, Mt 11:25;
hast thou ordained strength: by which is meant the Gospel, the rod of Christ's strength, and the power of God unto salvation; and which being made useful for the conversion of souls, is the cause of much praise and thanksgiving to God: this, by the mouths and means of the apostles and first ministers of the word, God ordained, or "founded" (f), settled and established in the world, notwithstanding all the opposition made unto it; so that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it, to root it out of the world; but it will continue the everlasting Gospel;
because of thine enemies: either for the sake of subduing them, and bringing them to the obedience of Christ, that is, the elect of God, who are before conversion enemies to God and Christ; or rather for the sake of confounding the implacable enemies of God and Christ, and of the cause and interest of religion. In order to which God has made choice of instruments the most mean and despicable, 1Cor 1:26; and God's end in this more particularly is expressed in the following clause;
that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger; Satan, the enemy of mankind, the adversary of Christ personal and mystical, who is filled with envy, wrath, and malice, against Christ and his people; him, by the, means of the Gospel and the ministry of it, God has "caused to cease" (g), as the word may be rendered; not as to his being, but as to his power and authority, in the Gentile world; out of which, to his great mortification, he was cast, by the mouth and ministry of babes and sucklings. These words are applied by Christ to the children in the temple, crying Hosanna to the son of David, out of whose mouths God perfected the praise of the Messiah; and by which, and Christ's defence of them, the Scribes and Pharisees, the mortal enemies of Christ, and who wanted to revenge themselves on him, were silenced and stilled, Mt 21:15.
(e) Aben Ezra & R. Moses in ibid. Kimchi, Obadiah Gaon, & Ben Melech in loc. (f) "fundasti", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator, Cocceius, so the Targum; "fundatam disposuisti", Junius & Tremellius, Rivetus. (g) "ad eessare faciendum", Montanus, Vatablus, Piscator; "ut facias cessare", Gejerus; so Ainsworth.
John Wesley
8:2 Babes - Weak and foolish, and contemptible persons, who are frequently called babes or children. Such are very unfit to grapple with an enemy: and therefore when such persons conquer the most powerful and malicious enemies, it must needs confound them, and advance the glory of God: as indeed it did, when such mean persons as the apostles, and disciples of Christ, maintained and propagated the gospel, in spite of all the wit, power, and rage of their enemies. Ordained - Perfectly or firmly settled strength; that is, the praise of his strength or power, Mt 21:16, it is rendered praise. Still - Silence and confound them. Avenger - The devil, and all who are his vassals and espouse his quarrel.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown
8:2 So manifest are God's perfections, that by very weak instruments He conclusively sets forth His praise. Infants are not only wonderful illustrations of God's power and skill, in their physical constitution, instincts, and early developed intelligence, but also in their spontaneous admiration of God's works, by which they put to shame--
still--or, silence men who rail and cavil against God. A special illustration of the passage is afforded in Mt 21:16, when our Saviour stilled the cavillers by quoting these words; for the glories with which God invested His incarnate Son, even in His humiliation, constitute a most wonderful display of the perfections of His wisdom, love, and power. In view of the scope of Ps 8:4-8 (see below), this quotation by our Saviour may be regarded as an exposition of the prophetical character of the words.
sucklings--among the Hebrews were probably of an age to speak (compare 1Kings 1:22-24; Mk 7:27).
ordained--founded, or prepared, and perfected, which occurs in Mt 21:16; taken from the Septuagint, has the same meaning.
strength--In the quotation in the New Testament, praise occurs as the consequence or effect put for the cause (compare Ps 118:14).
avenger--as in Ps 44:16; one desirous of revenge, disposed to be quarrelsome, and so apt to cavil against God's government.
8:38:3: ՚ի բերանոյ մանկանց տղայոց ստընդիեցաց կատարեսցի օրհնութիւն։ Վասն թշնամեաց քոց Տէր. զի եղծցին թշնամին եւ հակառակորդն[6602]։ [6602] Ոմանք.՚Ի բերանոց... հաստատեցեր զօրհնութիւն... եղծցի թշնա՛՛։
3 Մանկահասակ եւ ծծկեր երեխաների բերանից թող օրհնութիւն ելնի ընդդէմ քո թշնամիների, Տէ՛ր, որպէսզի ոսոխն ու հակառակորդը կործանուեն:
2 Մանկանց ու կաթնկեր տղայոց բերնով Գովութիւն* կատարեցիր՝ քու թշնամիներուդ համար, Որպէս զի թշնամին ու վրէժխնդիրը լռեցնես։
Ի բերանոյ մանկանց տղայոց եւ ստնդիեցաց հաստատեցեր զօրհնութիւն. վասն թշնամեաց քոց, [34]Տէր, զի եղծցի թշնամին եւ հակառակորդն:

8:3: ՚ի բերանոյ մանկանց տղայոց ստընդիեցաց կատարեսցի օրհնութիւն։ Վասն թշնամեաց քոց Տէր. զի եղծցին թշնամին եւ հակառակորդն[6602]։
[6602] Ոմանք.՚Ի բերանոց... հաստատեցեր զօրհնութիւն... եղծցի թշնա՛՛։
3 Մանկահասակ եւ ծծկեր երեխաների բերանից թող օրհնութիւն ելնի ընդդէմ քո թշնամիների, Տէ՛ր, որպէսզի ոսոխն ու հակառակորդը կործանուեն:
2 Մանկանց ու կաթնկեր տղայոց բերնով Գովութիւն* կատարեցիր՝ քու թշնամիներուդ համար, Որպէս զի թշնամին ու վրէժխնդիրը լռեցնես։
zohrab-1805▾ eastern-1994▾ western am▾
8:28:3 Из уст младенцев и грудных детей Ты устроил хвалу, ради врагов Твоих, дабы сделать безмолвным врага и мстителя.
8:3 ἐκ εκ from; out of στόματος στομα mouth; edge νηπίων νηπιος minor καὶ και and; even θηλαζόντων θηλαζω nurse κατηρτίσω καταρτιζω repair; outfit αἶνον αινος story ἕνεκα ενεκα for the sake of; on account of τῶν ο the ἐχθρῶν εχθρος hostile; enemy σου σου of you; your τοῦ ο the καταλῦσαι καταλυω dislodge; lodge ἐχθρὸν εχθρος hostile; enemy καὶ και and; even ἐκδικητήν εκδικητης avenger; vindicator
8:3 כִּֽי־ kˈî- כִּי that אֶרְאֶ֣ה ʔerʔˈeh ראה see שָׁ֭מֶיךָ ˈšāmeʸḵā שָׁמַיִם heavens מַעֲשֵׂ֣י maʕᵃśˈê מַעֲשֶׂה deed אֶצְבְּעֹתֶ֑יךָ ʔeṣbᵊʕōṯˈeʸḵā אֶצְבַּע finger יָרֵ֥חַ yārˌēₐḥ יָרֵחַ moon וְ֝ ˈw וְ and כֹוכָבִ֗ים ḵôḵāvˈîm כֹּוכָב star אֲשֶׁ֣ר ʔᵃšˈer אֲשֶׁר [relative] כֹּונָֽנְתָּה׃ kônˈānᵊttā כון be firm
8:3. ex ore infantium et lactantium perfecisti laudem propter adversarios meos ut quiescat inimicus et ultorOut of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise, because of thy enemies, that thou mayst destroy the enemy and the avenger.
2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou established strength, because of thine adversaries, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
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:

8:3 Из уст младенцев и грудных детей Ты устроил хвалу, ради врагов Твоих, дабы сделать безмолвным врага и мстителя.
8:3
ἐκ εκ from; out of
στόματος στομα mouth; edge
νηπίων νηπιος minor
καὶ και and; even
θηλαζόντων θηλαζω nurse
κατηρτίσω καταρτιζω repair; outfit
αἶνον αινος story
ἕνεκα ενεκα for the sake of; on account of
τῶν ο the
ἐχθρῶν εχθρος hostile; enemy
σου σου of you; your
τοῦ ο the
καταλῦσαι καταλυω dislodge; lodge
ἐχθρὸν εχθρος hostile; enemy
καὶ και and; even
ἐκδικητήν εκδικητης avenger; vindicator
8:3
כִּֽי־ kˈî- כִּי that
אֶרְאֶ֣ה ʔerʔˈeh ראה see
שָׁ֭מֶיךָ ˈšāmeʸḵā שָׁמַיִם heavens
מַעֲשֵׂ֣י maʕᵃśˈê מַעֲשֶׂה deed
אֶצְבְּעֹתֶ֑יךָ ʔeṣbᵊʕōṯˈeʸḵā אֶצְבַּע finger
יָרֵ֥חַ yārˌēₐḥ יָרֵחַ moon
וְ֝ ˈw וְ and
כֹוכָבִ֗ים ḵôḵāvˈîm כֹּוכָב star
אֲשֶׁ֣ר ʔᵃšˈer אֲשֶׁר [relative]
כֹּונָֽנְתָּה׃ kônˈānᵊttā כון be firm
8:3. ex ore infantium et lactantium perfecisti laudem propter adversarios meos ut quiescat inimicus et ultor
Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise, because of thy enemies, that thou mayst destroy the enemy and the avenger.
2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou established strength, because of thine adversaries, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
ru▾ LXX-gloss▾ bhs-gloss▾ vulgate▾ erva_1895▾
jfb▾ jw▾ jg▾ kad▾ tr▾ ab▾ ac▾ mh▾ tb▾ all ▾
А. П. Лопухин: Tолковая Библия или комментарий на все книги Св.Писания Ветхого и Нового Заветов - 1903-1914
3. Это Божественное величие в такой степени сильно разлито в мире и проявляется настолько ясно, что оно чувствуется и грудными младенцами, которые "воздавали хвалу Богу". Этой способностью чувствовать и видеть Бога в явлениях мира, они ненамеренно и бессознательно, а потому и особенно сильно, обличают и отвергают суждения тех, кто намеренно не замечает этого величия, являясь, таким образом, врагом Бога, своими односторонними и ошибочными суждениями об устройстве Вселенной как бы мстящим Ему за свою духовную слепоту. Под младенцами здесь разумеются грудные дети. В кн. Прем X:21: говорится, что по переходе евреев через Чермное море даже уста "немых и язык младенцев сделались ясными". Это указывает не только на то, что евреи, прежде безмолвные и придавленные рабы в Египте, теперь смело говорят и воспевают Бога, но и на то, что дети грудные принимали участие в общей радости, непосредственно и инстинктивно чувствуя необыкновенность и чудесность этого события. Под младенцами можно понимать не только грудных детей, но и взрослых, с неиспорченным и чистым чувством нравственным, приближающим их к детям. Указанный книгою Премудрости факт сближает данное место с Мф XXI:15-16, где говорится о еврейских детях, воспевавших в лице Христа, сына Давидова, т. е. обетованного Потомка, Сына Божия, которого фарисеи не хотели признать за такового. Таким образом, тот факт, что "Премудрость отверзла уста младенцев" по переходе евреев через Чермное море, указывает отцам этих детей, что Премудрость, сила Божия, открывается и детям, и не всегда, потому, опытность житейская и возраст человека служат показателями безошибочности его суждений и поступков, что и обнаружилось в истории жизни Христа, воспеваемого детьми, как Сына Божия, тогда как отцы этих детей, отрицая Его божественное достоинство, в это время строили планы Его гибели. Таким образом, указанный факт является прообразом, где в историческом явлении указаны черты будущего события из жизни Мессии, почему и означенный стих псалма, как предуказание, приводится в Ев. Матфея.
Matthew Henry: Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible - 1706
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!
David here goes on to magnify the honour of God by recounting the honours he has put upon man, especially the man Christ Jesus. The condescensions of the divine grace call for our praises as much as the elevations of the divine glory. How God has condescended in favour to man the psalmist here observes with wonder and thankfulness, and recommends it to our thoughts. See here,
I. What it is that leads him to admire the condescending favour of God to man; it is his consideration of the lustre and influence of the heavenly bodies, which are within the view of sense (v. 3): I consider thy heavens, and there, particularly, the moon and the stars. But why does he not take notice of the sun, which much excels them all? Probably because it was in a night-walk, but moon-light, that he entertained and instructed himself with this meditation, when the sun was not within view, but only the moon and the stars, which, though they are not altogether so serviceable to man as the sun is, yet are no less demonstrations of the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Creator. Observe, 1. It is our duty to consider the heavens. We see them, we cannot but see them. By this, among other things, man is distinguished from the beasts, that, while they are so framed as to look downwards to the earth, man is made erect to look upwards towards heaven. Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri jussit--To man he gave an erect countenance, and bade him gaze on the heavens, that thus he may be directed to set his affections on things above; for what we see has not its due influence upon us unless we consider it. 2. We must always consider the heavens as God's heavens, not only as all the world is his, even the earth and the fulness thereof, but in a more peculiar manner. The heavens, even the heavens, are the Lord's (Ps. cxv. 16); they are the place of the residence of his glory and we are taught to call him Our Father in heaven. 3. They are therefore his, because they are the work of his fingers. He made them; he made them easily. The stretching out of the heavens needed not any outstretched arm; it was done with a word; it was but the work of his fingers. He made them with very great curiosity and fineness, like a nice piece of work which the artist makes with his fingers. 4. Even the inferior lights, the moon and stars, show the glory and power of the Father of lights, and furnish us with matter for praise. 5. The heavenly bodies are not only the creatures of the divine power, but subject to the divine government. God not only made them, but ordained them, and the ordinances of heaven can never be altered. But how does this come in here to magnify God's favour to man? (1.) When we consider how the glory of God shines in the upper world we may well wonder that he should take cognizance of such a mean creature as man, that he who resides in that bright and blessed part of the creation, and governs it, should humble himself to behold the things done upon this earth; see Ps. cxiii. 5, 6. (2.) When we consider of what great use the heavens are to men on earth, and how the lights of heavens are divided unto all nations (Deut. iv. 19, Gen. i. 15), we may well say, "Lord, what is man that thou shouldst settle the ordinances of heaven with an eye to him and to his benefit, and that his comfort and convenience should be so consulted in the making of the lights of heaven and directing their motions!"
II. How he expresses this admiration (v. 4): "Lord, what is man (enosh, sinful, weak, miserable man, a creature so forgetful of thee and his duty to thee) that thou art thus mindful of him, that thou takest cognizance of him and of his actions and affairs, that in the making of the world thou hadst a respect to him! What is the son of man, that thou visitest him, that thou not only feedest him and clothest him, protectest him and providest for him, in common with other creatures, but visited him as one friend visits another, art pleased to converse with him and concern thyself for him! What is man--(so mean a creature), that he should be thus honoured--(so sinful a creature), that he should be thus countenanced and favoured!" Now this refers,
1. To mankind in general. Though man is a worm, and the son of man is a worm (Job xxv. 6), yet God puts a respect upon him, and shows him abundance of kindness; man is, above all the creatures in this lower world, the favourite and darling of Providence. For, (1.) He is of a very honourable rank of beings. We may be sure he takes precedence of all the inhabitants of this lower world, for he is made but a little lower than the angels (v. 5), lower indeed, because by his body he is allied to the earth and to the beasts that perish, and yet by his soul, which is spiritual and immortal, he is so near akin to the holy angels that he may be truly said to be but a little lower than they, and is, in order, next to them. He is but for a little while lower than the angels, while his great soul is cooped up in a house of clay, but the children of the resurrection shall be isangeloi--angels' peers (Luke xx. 36) and no longer lower than they. (2.) He is endued with noble faculties and capacities: Thou hast crowned him with glory and honour. He that gave him his being has distinguished him, and qualified him for a dominion over the inferior creatures; for, having made him wiser than the beasts of the earth and the fowls of heaven (Job xxxv. 11), he has made him fit to rule them and it is fit that they should be ruled by him. Man's reason is his crown of glory; let him not profane that crown by disturbing the use of it nor forfeit that crown by acting contrary to its dictates. (3.) He is invested with a sovereign dominion over the inferior creatures, under God, and is constituted their lord. He that made them, and knows them, and whose own they are, has made man to have dominion over them, v. 6. His charter, by which he holds this royalty, bears equal date with his creation (Gen. i. 28) and was renewed after the flood, Gen. ix. 2. God has put all things under man's feet, that he might serve himself, not only of the labour, but of the productions and lives of the inferior creatures; they are all delivered into his hand, nay, they are all put under his feet. He specifies some of the inferior animals (v. 7, 8), not only sheep and oxen, which man takes care of and provides for, but the beasts of the field, as well as those of the flood, yea, and those creatures which are most at a distance from man, as the fowl of the air, yea, and the fish of the sea, which live in another element and pass unseen through the paths of the seas. Man has arts to take these; though many of them are much stronger and many of them much swifter than he, yet, one way or other, he is too hard for them, Jam. iii. 7. Every kind of beasts, and birds, and things in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed. He has likewise liberty to use them as he has occasion. Rise, Peter, kill and eat, Acts x. 13. Every time we partake of fish or of fowl we realize this dominion which man has over the works of God's hands; and this is a reason for our subjection to God, our chief Lord, and to his dominion over us.
2. But this refers, in a particular manner, to Jesus Christ. Of him we are taught to expound it, Heb. ii. 6-8, where the apostle, to prove the sovereign dominion of Christ both in heaven and in earth, shows that he is that man, that son of man, here spoken of, whom God has crowned with glory and honour and made to have dominion over the works of his hands. And it is certain that the greatest favour that ever was shown to the human race, and the greatest honour that ever was put upon the human nature, were exemplified in the incarnation and exaltation of the Lord Jesus; these far exceed the favours and honours done us by creation and providence, though they also are great and far more than we deserve. We have reason humbly to value ourselves by it and thankfully to admire the grace of God in it, (1.) That Jesus Christ assumed the nature of man, and, in that nature, humbled himself. He became the Son of man, a partaker of flesh and blood; being so, God visited him, which some apply to his sufferings for us, for it is said (Heb. ii. 9), For the suffering of death, a visitation in wrath, he was crowned with glory and honour. God visited him; having laid upon him the iniquity of us all, he reckoned with him for it, visited him with a rod and with stripes, that we by them might be healed. He was, for a little while (so the apostle interprets it), made lower than the angels, when he took upon him the form of a servant and made himself of no reputation. (2.) That, in that nature, he is exalted to be Lord of all. God the Father exalted him, because he had humbled himself, crowned him with glory and honour, the glory which he had with him before the worlds were, set not only the head of the church, but head over all things to the church, and gave all things into his hand, entrusted him with the administration of the kingdom of providence in conjunction with and subserviency to the kingdom of grace. All the creatures are put under his feet; and, even in the days of his flesh, he gave some specimens of his power over them, as when he commanded the winds and the seas, and appointed a fish to pay his tribute. With good reason therefore does the psalmist conclude as he began, Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, which has been honoured with the presence of the Redeemer, and is still enlightened by his gospel and governed by his wisdom and power!
In singing this and praying it over, though we must not forget to acknowledge, with suitable affections, God's common favours to mankind, particularly in the serviceableness of the inferior creatures to us, yet we must especially set ourselves to give glory to our Lord Jesus, by confessing that he is Lord, submitting to him as our Lord, and waiting till we see all things put under him and all his enemies made his footstool.
Adam Clarke: Commentary on the Bible - 1831
8:3: When I Consider thy heavens - כי אראה ki ereh; Because I will see. He had often seen the heavens with astonishment, and he purposes to make them frequent subjects of contemplation; and he could not behold them without being affected with the skill, contrivance, and power, manifested in their formation.
The work of thy fingers - What a view does this give of the majesty of God! The earth is nearly eight thousand English miles in diameter: but to form an adequate conception of its magnitude, we must consider it in its superficial and solid contents. Upon the supposition that the earth's polar diameter is seven thousand nine hundred and forty miles, and its equatorial, seven thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven, (estimates considered to very near approximations to the truth), the whole superficies of the terraqueous globe will amount to about one hundred and ninety-eight millions, nine hundred and eighty thousand, seven hundred square miles; and its solid contents, in cubic miles will be expressed by the following figures: 264,544,857,944, i.e., two hundred and sixty-four thousand five hundred and forty-four millions, eight hundred and fifty-seven thousand, nine hundred and forty-four. Great as we have shown the bulk of the earth to be, from the most accurate estimates of its diameter it is but small when compared with the bulks of some of the other bodies in the solar system. The planet Herschel, or Georgium Sidus, known on the continent of Europe by the name of Uranus, is eighty times and a half greater than the earth; Saturn, nine hundred and ninety-five times greater; Jupiter, one thousand two hundred and eighty-one times greater; and the sun, the most prodigious body in the system, one million three hundred and eightyfour thousand, four hundred and sixty-two times greater. The circumference of the sun contains not fewer than two millions seven hundred and seventy-seven thousand English miles; and a degree of latitude, which on the earth amounts only to sixty-nine miles and a half, will on the sun (the circle being supposed in both instances to be divided into three hundred and sixty degrees) contain not less than about seven thousand seven hundred and forty miles, a quantity almost equal to the terrestrial axis. But the immense volume (in cubic miles) which the solar surface includes amounts to the following most inconceivable quantity: 366,252,303,118,866,128, i.e., three hundred and sixty six thousand two hundred and fifty-two billions, three hundred and three thousand one hundred and eighteen millions, eight hundred and sixty-six thousand, one hundred and twenty-eight. Notwithstanding the amazing magnitude of the sun, we have abundant reason to believe that some of the fixed stars are much larger; and yet we are told they are the work of God's Fingers! What a hand, to move, form, and launch these globes! This expression is much more sublime than even that of the prophet: "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out the heavens with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure; and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance!" Isa 40:12. This is grand; but the heavens being the work Of God's Fingers is yet more sublime.
The moon and the stars - The sun is not mentioned, because the heavens - the moon, planets, and stars - could not have appeared, had he been present. Those he wished to introduce because of their immense variety, and astonishing splendor; and, therefore, he skilfully leaves out the sun, which would have afforded him but one object, and one idea. To have mentioned him with the others would have been as ridiculous in astronomy, as the exhibition of the top and bottom of a vessel would be in perspective. Various critics have endeavored to restore the Sun to this place: and even Bishop Horsley says, "It is certainly strange that the sun should be omitted, when the moon and the stars are so particularly mentioned." But with great deference to him, and to Dr. Kennicott, who both show how the text may be mended I say, it would be most strange had the psalmist introduced the sun, for the reasons already assigned. The Spirit of God is always right; our head is sometimes, our hearts seldom so.
Which thou hast ordained - כוננתה conantah, which thou hast prepared and established. Made their respective spheres, and fitted them for their places. Space to matter, and matter to space; all adjusted in number, weight, and measure.
Albert Barnes: Notes on the Bible - 1834
8:3: When I consider thy heavens - When I contemplate or look upon. They are called his heavens because he made them - because he is the proprietor of them - perhaps because they are his abode.
The work of thy fingers - Which thy fingers have made. The fingers are the instruments by which we construct a piece of work - perhaps indicating skill rather than strength; and hence so used in respect to God, as it is by his skill that the heavens have been made.
The moon and the stars - Showing, as remarked above, that probably this psalm, was composed at night, or that the train of thought was suggested by the contemplation of the starry worlds. It is not improbable that the thoughts occurred to the psalmist when meditating on the signal honor which God had conferred on him, a feeble man (see the notes at Psa 8:2), and when his thoughts were at the same time directed to the goodness of God as the heavens were contemplated in their silent grandeur.
Which thou hast ordained - Prepared, fitted up, constituted, appointed. He had fixed them in their appropriate spheres, and they now silently showed forth his glory.
R. A. Torrey - Treasury: Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge - 1880
8:3: When: Psa 19:1, Psa 111:2; Job 22:12, Job 36:24; Rom 1:20
work: Psa 33:6; Gen 1:1; Exo 8:19, Exo 31:18; Luk 11:20
moon: Psa 104:19, Psa 136:7-9, Psa 148:3; Gen 1:16-18; Deu 4:19; Job 25:3, Job 25:5
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch
8:3
(Heb.: 8:4-6) Stier wrongly translates: For I shall behold. The principal thought towards which the rest tends is Ps 8:5 (parallel are Ps 8:2 a, 3), and consequently Ps 8:4 is the protasis (par., Ps 8:2), and כּי accordingly is = quum, quando, in the sense of quoties. As often as he gazes at the heavens which bear upon themselves the name of God in characters of light (wherefore he says שׁמיך), the heavens with their boundless spaces (an idea which lies in the plur. שׁמים) extending beyond the reach of mortal eye, the moon (ירח, dialectic ורח, perhaps, as Maurer derives it, from ירח = ירק subflavum esse), and beyond this the innumerable stars which are lost in infinite space (כּוכבים = כּבכּבים prop. round, ball-shaped, spherical bodies) to which Jahve appointed their fixed place on the vault of heaven which He has formed with all the skill of His creative wisdom (כּונן to place and set up, in the sense of existence and duration): so often does the thought "what is mortal man...?" increase in power and intensity. The most natural thought would be: frail, puny man is as nothing before all this; but this thought is passed over in order to celebrate, with grateful emotion and astonished adoration, the divine love which appears in all the more glorious light, - a love which condescends to poor man, the dust of earth. Even if אנושׁ does not come from אנשׁ to be fragile, nevertheless, according to the usage of the language, it describes man from the side of his impotence, frailty, and mortality (vid., Ps 103:15; Is 51:12, and on Gen 4:26). בּן־אדם, also, is not without a similar collateral reference. With retrospective reference to עוללים וינקים, בּן־אדם is equivalent to ילוּד־אשּׁה in Job 14:1 : man, who is not, like the stars, God's directly creative work, but comes into being through human agency born of woman. From both designations it follows that it is the existing generation of man that is spoken of. Man, as we see him in ourselves and others, this weak and dependent being is, nevertheless, not forgotten by God, God remembers him and looks about after him (פּקד of observing attentively, especially visitation, and with the accus. it is generally used of lovingly provident visitation, e.g., Jer 15:15). He does not leave him to himself, but enters into personal intercourse with him, he is the special and favoured object whither His eye turns (cf. Ps 144:3, and the parody of the tempted one in Job 7:17.).
Tit is not until Ps 8:6 that the writer glances back at creation. ותּחסּרהוּ (differing from the fut. consec. Job 7:18) describes that which happened formerly. חסּר מן signifies to cause to be short of, wanting in something, to deprive any one of something (cf. Eccles 4:8). מן is here neither comparative (paullo inferiorem eum fecisti Deo), nor negative (paullum derogasti ei, ne esset Deus), but partitive (paullum derogasti ei divinae naturae); and, without אלהים being on that account an abstract plural, paullum Deorum, = Dei (vid., Genesis S. 66f.), is equivalent to paullum numinis Deorum. According to Gen 1:27 man is created בּצלם אלהים, he is a being in the image of God, and, therefore, nearly a divine being. But when God says: "let us make man in our image after our likeness," He there connects Himself with the angels. The translation of the lxx ἠλάττωσας αὐτὸν βραχύ τι παρ ̓ ἀγγέλους, with which the Targum and the prevailing Jewish interpretations also harmonize, is, therefore, not unwarranted. Because in the biblical mode of conception the angels are so closely connected with God as the nearest creaturely effulgence of His nature, it is really possible that in מאלהים David may have thought of God including the angels. Since man is in the image of God, he is at the same time in the likeness of an angel, and since he is only a little less than divine, he is also only a little less than angelic. The position, somewhat exalted above the angels, which he occupies by being the bond between all created things, in so far as mind and matter are united in him, is here left out of consideration. The writer has only this one thing in his mind, that man is inferior to God, who is רוּח, and to the angels who are רוּחות (Is 31:3; Heb 1:14) in this respect, that he is a material being, and on this very account a finite and mortal being; as Theodoret well and briefly observes: τῷ θνητῷ τῶν ἀγγέλων ἠλάττωται. This is the מעט in which whatever is wanting to him to make him a divine being is concentrated. But it is nothing more than מעט. The assertion in Ps 8:6 refers to the fact of the nature of man being in the image of God, and especially to the spirit breathed into him from God; Ps 8:6, to his godlike position as ruler in accordance with this his participation in the divine nature: honore ac decore coronasti eum. כּבוד is the manifestation of glory described from the side of its weightiness and fulness; הוד (cf. הד, הידד) from the side of its far resounding announcement of itself (vid., on Job 39:20); הדר from the side of its brilliancy, majesty, and beauty. הוד והדר, Ps 96:6, or also הדר כּבור הוד ה, Ps 145:5, is the appellation of the divine doxa, with the image of which man is adorned as with a regal crown. The preceding fut. consec. also stamps תּעטּרהוּ and תּמשׁילהוּ as historical retrospects. The next strophe unfolds the regal glory of man: he is the lord of all things, the lord of all earthly creatures.
John Gill
8:3 When I consider thy heavens,.... Where God dwells, and which he has made; the airy and starry heavens, which are to be seen with the bodily eye; and the heaven of heavens, which is to be beheld and considered by faith:
the work of thy fingers; being curiously wrought by his power, and garnished by his Spirit: for the finger of God is the Spirit of God; see Mt 12:28; compared with Lk 11:20;
the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, or "prepared" (h), for various uses to the earth, and the inhabitants of it. The sun is not mentioned, because it cannot be looked upon, as the moon and the stars may, nor be seen when they are. And it is generally thought that David composed this psalm in the night, When these celestial bodies were in view; and, it may be, while he was keeping his father's sheep, since, in the enumeration of the creatures subject to man, sheep are mentioned first, as being in view, Ps 8:7. The heavenly bodies are very glorious creatures, and are worthy of the consideration and contemplation of man, and even of a saint; whereby he may be led to observe the wisdom, power, goodness, and greatness of God.
(h) "praeparasti", Pagninus, Montanus; "parasti", Musculus, Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis.
John Wesley
8:3 The moon - Either the sun is included under this general title: or he omitted it, because he made this psalm by night. Ordained - Placed in that excellent and unalterable order, and directed to their several motions.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown
8:3 The allusion to the magnificence of the visible heavens is introduced for the purpose of illustrating God's condescension, who, though the mighty Creator of these glorious worlds of light, makes man the object of regard and recipient of favor.
8:48:4: Տեսից զերկինս զգործս մատանց քոց, զլուսին եւ զաստեղս զորս դո՛ւ հասատեցեր։
4 Տեսնեմ երկինքը՝ քո մատների գործը, լուսինն ու աստղերը, որոնք դու հաստատեցիր:
3 Երբ տեսնեմ երկինքը՝ քու մատներուդ գործը՝ Լուսինը ու աստղերը, որոնք դուն հաստատեցիր,
Տեսից`` զերկինս, զգործս մատանց քոց, զլուսին եւ զաստեղս զորս դու հաստատեցեր:

8:4: Տեսից զերկինս զգործս մատանց քոց, զլուսին եւ զաստեղս զորս դո՛ւ հասատեցեր։
4 Տեսնեմ երկինքը՝ քո մատների գործը, լուսինն ու աստղերը, որոնք դու հաստատեցիր:
3 Երբ տեսնեմ երկինքը՝ քու մատներուդ գործը՝ Լուսինը ու աստղերը, որոնք դուն հաստատեցիր,
zohrab-1805▾ eastern-1994▾ western am▾
8:38:4 Когда взираю я на небеса Твои дело Твоих перстов, на луну и звезды, которые Ты поставил,
8:4 ὅτι οτι since; that ὄψομαι οραω view; see τοὺς ο the οὐρανούς ουρανος sky; heaven ἔργα εργον work τῶν ο the δακτύλων δακτυλος finger σου σου of you; your σελήνην σεληνη moon καὶ και and; even ἀστέρας αστηρ star ἃ ος who; what σὺ συ you ἐθεμελίωσας θεμελιοω found
8:4 מָֽה־ mˈā- מָה what אֱנֹ֥ושׁ ʔᵉnˌôš אֱנֹושׁ man כִּֽי־ kˈî- כִּי that תִזְכְּרֶ֑נּוּ ṯizkᵊrˈennû זכר remember וּ û וְ and בֶן־ ven- בֵּן son אָ֝דָ֗ם ˈʔāḏˈām אָדָם human, mankind כִּ֣י kˈî כִּי that תִפְקְדֶֽנּוּ׃ ṯifqᵊḏˈennû פקד miss
8:4. videbo enim caelos tuos opera digitorum tuorum lunam et stellas quae fundastiFor I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars which thou hast founded.
3. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained:

8:4 Когда взираю я на небеса Твои дело Твоих перстов, на луну и звезды, которые Ты поставил,
8:4
ὅτι οτι since; that
ὄψομαι οραω view; see
τοὺς ο the
οὐρανούς ουρανος sky; heaven
ἔργα εργον work
τῶν ο the
δακτύλων δακτυλος finger
σου σου of you; your
σελήνην σεληνη moon
καὶ και and; even
ἀστέρας αστηρ star
ἃ ος who; what
σὺ συ you
ἐθεμελίωσας θεμελιοω found
8:4
מָֽה־ mˈā- מָה what
אֱנֹ֥ושׁ ʔᵉnˌôš אֱנֹושׁ man
כִּֽי־ kˈî- כִּי that
תִזְכְּרֶ֑נּוּ ṯizkᵊrˈennû זכר remember
וּ û וְ and
בֶן־ ven- בֵּן son
אָ֝דָ֗ם ˈʔāḏˈām אָדָם human, mankind
כִּ֣י kˈî כִּי that
תִפְקְדֶֽנּוּ׃ ṯifqᵊḏˈennû פקד miss
8:4. videbo enim caelos tuos opera digitorum tuorum lunam et stellas quae fundasti
For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars which thou hast founded.
3. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
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А. П. Лопухин: Tолковая Библия или комментарий на все книги Св.Писания Ветхого и Нового Заветов - 1903-1914
4-5. Писатель псалма, поражаясь величием Бога, когда рассматривает Его творения, благоговеет пред Ним. Это благоговение еще более усиливается сознанием, что человек поставлен Богом главою мира, в чем видно необыкновенное благоволение Бога.
Adam Clarke: Commentary on the Bible - 1831
8:4: What is man - מה אנוש mah enosh, what is wretched, miserable man; man in his fallen state, full of infirmity, ignorance, and sin?
That thou art mindful of him? - That thou settest thy heart upon him, keepest him continually in thy merciful view.
And the son of man - ובן אדם uben Adam, and the son of Adam, the first great rebel; the fallen child of a fallen parent. See the note on Job 7:17. Some think eminent men are here intended. What is man in common; what the most eminent men; that thou shouldst be mindful of them, or deign to visit them?
That thou visitest him? - By sending thy Holy Spirit to convince him of sin, righteousness, and judgment. It is by these visits that man is preserved in a salvable state. Were God to withhold them, there would be nothing in the soul of man but sin, darkness, hardness, corruption, and death.
Albert Barnes: Notes on the Bible - 1834
8:4: What is man - What claim has one so weak, and frail, and short-lived, to be remembered by time? What is there in man that entitles him to so much notice? Why has God conferred on him so signal honor? Why has he placed him over the works of his hands? Why has he made so many arrangements for his comfort? Why has he done so much to save him? He is so insignificant his life is so much like a vapor, he so soon disappears, he is so sinful and polluted, that the question may well be asked, why such honor has been conferred on him, and why such a dominion over the world has been given him. See these thoughts more fully expanded in the notes at Heb 2:6.
That thou art mindful of him - That thou dost remember him; that is, think of him, attend to him - that he does not pass away wholly from thy thoughts. Why should a God who is so vast and glorious, and who has all the starry worlds, so beautiful and grand, to claim his attention - why should he turn his thoughts on man? And especially why should he honor him as he has done by giving him dominion over the works of his hands?
And the son of man - Any descendant of man - any one of the race. What was man, as he was originally made, that such exalted honor should have been conferred on him; and what has any one of his descendants become, in virtue of his native faculties or acquired endowments, that he should be thus honored? The design is the same as in the former part of the verse, to express the idea that there was nothing in man, considered in any respect, that entitled him to this exalted honor. Nothing that man has done since the time when the question was asked by the psalmist has contributed to diminish the force of the inquiry.
That thou visitest him - As thou dost; that is, with the attention and care which thou dost bestow upon him; not forgetting him; not leaving him; not passing him by. The word used here - פקד pâ qad - would properly express a visitation for any purpose - for inspection, for mercy; for friendship, for judgment, etc. Here it refers to the attention bestowed by God on man in conferring on him such marks of favor and honor as he had done - such attention that he never seemed to forget him, but was constantly coming to him with some new proof of favor. What God has done for man since the psalmist wrote this, has done nothing to weaken the force of this inquiry.
R. A. Torrey - Treasury: Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge - 1880
8:4: What: Psa 144:3; Ch2 6:18; Job 7:17, Job 25:6; Isa 40:17; Heb 2:6-9
son: Psa 4:2, Psa 80:17, Psa 146:3; Isa 51:12; Eze 8:15; Mat 8:20
visitest: Psa 106:4; Gen 21:1; Exo 4:31; Luk 1:68, Luk 19:44; Pe1 2:12
Geneva 1599
8:4 What is (b) man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
(b) It was sufficient for him to have set forth his glory by the heavens, though he had not come so low as to man who is but dust.
John Gill
8:4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him?.... That is, the psalmist, while he was considering the greatness and glory of the celestial bodies, thought this within himself, and so expressed it; which is to be understood, not of man in general, nor of Adam in a state of innocence; he could not be called "Enosh", the word here used, which signifies a frail, weak, sickly mortal man; nor could he with any propriety be said to be the son of man, as in the following clause: nor of fallen man, or of Adam's posterity, descending from him by ordinary generation; for all things are not put in subjection to them, as is hereafter said of man: but this is to be understood of the man Christ Jesus, as it is interpreted in Heb 2:6; or of that individual of human nature which Christ assumed. The name of Enosh well agrees with him, who was a man of no note and esteem among men, a worm and no man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, encompassed with infirmities, and was subject to death, and did die. Now it was a marvellous thing that God should be mindful of that individual of human nature; that he should prepare it in his council and covenant; that among the vast numbers of individuals which it came up in his infinite mind to create, he should choose this, to exalt it, and appoint it to union with his own Son, and take that delight in it he did; that when it was formed by his Spirit, he should anoint it with the oil of gladness above his fellows; that he should take such providential care of it, and so often and so strongly express his affection for it; that he should regard it, and support it under sufferings; and when in the grave, did not leave it, nor suffer it to see corruption; but raised it from the dead, and gave it glory, and exalted it at his own right hand;
and the son of man, that thou visitest him? The name of "the son of man" is the name of the Messiah, in Ps 80:17; and is often given to Christ, and used by him of himself in the New Testament. And this visiting of him is not to be understood in a way of wrath, though he was so visited by God, when he bore the chastisements of his people; but in a way of favour, by bestowing upon him without measure the gifts and graces of his Spirit; by affording him his gracious presence, and tilling him with spiritual peace and joy.
John Wesley
8:4 What is man - How mean and inconsiderable a thing is man, if compared with thy glorious majesty. Man - Heb. infirm, or miserable man. By which it is apparent that he speaks of man, not according to the state of his creation, but as fallen into a state of sin and misery, and mortality. Mindful - Carest for him, and conferest such high favours upon him. The son - Heb. the son of Adam, that great apostate from God, the sinful son of a sinful father, his son by likeness of disposition and manners, no less than by procreation. All which tends to magnify the following mercy. Visitest - Not in anger, as that word is sometimes used, but with thy grace and mercy.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown
8:4 man--literally, "frail man," an allusion to his essential infirmity.
son of man--only varies the form of speech.
visitest--in favor (Ps 65:10). This favor is now more fully illustrated.
8:58:5: Ո՞վ է մարդ զի յիշես դու զնա, կամ որդի մարդոյ թէ ա՛յց ինչ արասցես դու նմա[6603]։ [6603] Ոմանք.Թէ այց առնես դու նմա։
5 Մարդն ի՞նչ է, որ յիշում ես նրան, կամ մարդու որդին՝ որ այցի գաս նրան:
4 Մարդը ի՞նչ է՝ որ զանիկա կը յիշես, Կամ մարդու որդին, որ անոր այցելութիւն կ’ընես։
ո՞վ է մարդ` զի յիշես դու զնա, կամ որդի մարդոյ, թէ այց ինչ արասցես դու նմա:

8:5: Ո՞վ է մարդ զի յիշես դու զնա, կամ որդի մարդոյ թէ ա՛յց ինչ արասցես դու նմա[6603]։
[6603] Ոմանք.Թէ այց առնես դու նմա։
5 Մարդն ի՞նչ է, որ յիշում ես նրան, կամ մարդու որդին՝ որ այցի գաս նրան:
4 Մարդը ի՞նչ է՝ որ զանիկա կը յիշես, Կամ մարդու որդին, որ անոր այցելութիւն կ’ընես։
zohrab-1805▾ eastern-1994▾ western am▾
8:48:5 то чт{о} {есть} человек, что Ты помнишь его, и сын человеческий, что Ты посещаешь его?
8:5 τί τις.1 who?; what? ἐστιν ειμι be ἄνθρωπος ανθρωπος person; human ὅτι οτι since; that μιμνῄσκῃ μιμνησκω remind; remember αὐτοῦ αυτος he; him ἢ η or; than υἱὸς υιος son ἀνθρώπου ανθρωπος person; human ὅτι οτι since; that ἐπισκέπτῃ επισκεπτομαι visit; inspect αὐτόν αυτος he; him
8:5 וַ wa וְ and תְּחַסְּרֵ֣הוּ ttᵊḥassᵊrˈēhû חסר diminish מְּ֭עַט ˈmmᵊʕaṭ מְעַט little מֵ mē מִן from אֱלֹהִ֑ים ʔᵉlōhˈîm אֱלֹהִים god(s) וְ wᵊ וְ and כָבֹ֖וד ḵāvˌôḏ כָּבֹוד weight וְ wᵊ וְ and הָדָ֣ר hāḏˈār הָדָר ornament תְּעַטְּרֵֽהוּ׃ tᵊʕaṭṭᵊrˈēhû עטר surround
8:5. quid est homo quoniam recordaris eius vel filius hominis quoniam visitas eumWhat is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him:

8:5 то чт{о} {есть} человек, что Ты помнишь его, и сын человеческий, что Ты посещаешь его?
8:5
τί τις.1 who?; what?
ἐστιν ειμι be
ἄνθρωπος ανθρωπος person; human
ὅτι οτι since; that
μιμνῄσκῃ μιμνησκω remind; remember
αὐτοῦ αυτος he; him
ἢ η or; than
υἱὸς υιος son
ἀνθρώπου ανθρωπος person; human
ὅτι οτι since; that
ἐπισκέπτῃ επισκεπτομαι visit; inspect
αὐτόν αυτος he; him
8:5
וַ wa וְ and
תְּחַסְּרֵ֣הוּ ttᵊḥassᵊrˈēhû חסר diminish
מְּ֭עַט ˈmmᵊʕaṭ מְעַט little
מֵ mē מִן from
אֱלֹהִ֑ים ʔᵉlōhˈîm אֱלֹהִים god(s)
וְ wᵊ וְ and
כָבֹ֖וד ḵāvˌôḏ כָּבֹוד weight
וְ wᵊ וְ and
הָדָ֣ר hāḏˈār הָדָר ornament
תְּעַטְּרֵֽהוּ׃ tᵊʕaṭṭᵊrˈēhû עטר surround
8:5. quid est homo quoniam recordaris eius vel filius hominis quoniam visitas eum
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
ru▾ LXX-gloss▾ bhs-gloss▾ vulgate▾ erva_1895▾
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Adam Clarke: Commentary on the Bible - 1831
8:5: Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels - The original is certainly very emphatic: ותחסרחו מעט מאלהים vattechasserchu meat meelohim, Thou hast lessened him for a little time from God. Or, Thou hast made him less than God for a little time. See these passages explained at large in the notes on Heb 2:6 (note), etc., which I need not repeat here.
Albert Barnes: Notes on the Bible - 1834
8:5: For thou hast made him - Thou hast made man as such; that is, he was such in the original design of his creation, in the rank given him, and in the dominion conceded to him. The object here is to show the honor conferred on man, or to show how God has regarded and honored him; and the thought is, that in his original creation, though so insignificant as compared with the vast worlds over which God presides, he had given him a rank but little inferior to that of the angels. See the notes at Heb 2:7.
A little lower - The Hebrew word used here - חסר châ sê r, means to want, to lack - and then, to be in want, to be diminished. The meaming is, "Thou hast caused him to want but little;" that is, he was but little interior.
Than the angels - So this is rendered by the Aramaic Paraphrase: by the Septuagint; by the Latin Vulgate; by the Syriac and Arabic; and by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews Heb 2:7, who has literally quoted the fourth, fifth, and sixth verses from the Septuagint. The Hebrew, however, is - מאלהים mi'ĕ lô hı̂ ym - than God. So Gesenius renders it, "Thou hast caused him to want but little of God; that is, thou hast made him but little lower than God." So DeWette, "nur wenig unter Gott." So Tholuck renders it, "nur um wenig unter Gott." This is the more natural construction, and this would convey an idea conformable to the course of thought in the psalm, though it has been usually supposed that the word used here - אלהים 'Elohiym - may be applied to angels, or even men, as in Psa 82:1; Psa 97:7; Psa 138:1; Exo 21:6; Exo 22:8-9. Gesenius (Thesau. Ling. Heb., p. 95) maintains that the word never has this signification. The authority, however, of the Aramaic, the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, would seem sufficient to show that that meaning may be attached to the word here with propriety, and that somehow that idea was naturally suggested in the passage itself. Still, if it were not for these versions, the most natural interpretation would be that which takes the word in its usual sense, as referring to God, and as meaning that, in respect to his dominion over the earth, man had been placed in a condition comparatively but little inferior to God himself; he had made him almost equal to himself.
And hast crowned him with glory and honor - With exalted honor. See the notes at Heb 2:7.
R. A. Torrey - Treasury: Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge - 1880
8:5: thou: Psa 103:20; Gen 1:26, Gen 1:27, Gen 2:7; Sa2 14:29; Job 4:18-20; Phi 2:7, Phi 2:8; Heb 2:7, Heb 2:9, Heb 2:16
hast: Psa 21:3-5, Psa 45:1-3, Psa 45:6; Joh 13:31, Joh 13:32; Eph 1:21; Phi 2:9-11; Heb 2:9; Pe1 1:20, Pe1 1:21
Geneva 1599
8:5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the (c) angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
(c) Concerning his first creation.
John Gill
8:5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,.... Than Elohim, "than God", as this word usually signifies: and could it be interpreted of man, as made by God, it might be thought to refer to the creation of him in the image and likeness of God; but as it must be understood of the human nature of Christ, it may regard the wonderful union of it to the Son of God, on account of which it is called by the same name, Lk 1:35; and so made but a little lower than God, being next unto him, and in so near an union with a divine Person; and which union is hypostatical or personal, the human nature being taken into a personal union with the Son of God: and so these words give an instance of God's marvellous regard to it; and contain a reason, proving that he has been mindful of it, and visited it. Though rather this clause refers to the humiliation of Christ in his human nature, as it is interpreted in Heb 2:9; and so it removes an objection, as it is connected with the following clause, which might be made against what had been observed in Ps 8:4, on account of the low estate of Christ's human nature, when here on the earth; and the sense is, that God has been mindful of it, and visited it, notwithstanding its state of humiliation for a little while, seeing he has crowned it with glory and honour, &c. Christ was made low as to nature, place, estate, reputation, and life; he who was the most high God, in the form of God, and equal to him in the divine nature, was made frail mortal flesh, and was in the form of a servant in the human nature. He who dwelt on high, and lay in the bosom of his Father, descended into the lower parts of the earth, was formed in the womb of a virgin, and when born was laid in a manager, and dwelt and conversed with sinful mortal men upon earth: he who was Lord of all, whose is the earth, and the fulness of it, had not where to lay his head: he whose glory was the glory of the only begotten of the Father, became a worm and no man in the esteem of men, was despised and rejected of men, and was of no reputation: and he who was the Lord of life and glory was crucified and killed; becoming obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Such is the nature of Christ's humiliation, expressed by being "made low"; the degree of it is, "lower than Elohim", than God: he was equal to him in the divine nature, but inferior to him in the human nature, Jn 14:28. As Mediator he was the servant of God, and the servant is not greater than his master; nor as such so great: and he was in his low estate in such a condition as to need the help and assistance of God, which he had in the day of salvation: and especially he was lower when he, was deserted by him, Mt 27:46. Agreeably to which, some render the words, as they will bear to be rendered, "thou didst make him want God", or "didst deprive", or "bereave him of God" (i); that is, of the gracious presence of God: and so Christ was made lower than God in nature, office, and condition. Sometimes the word "Elohim" is used for civil magistrates, as in Ps 82:6; because they are in God's stead, and represent him; and, on account of their majesty, authority, and power, bear some resemblance to him. Now Christ was made lower than they, inasmuch as he not only taught obedience to them, but obeyed them himself, was a servant of rulers, paid tribute to them, and suffered himself to be examined, tried, judged, and condemned by them; but since the word is rendered "angels" by the Chaldee paraphrase, the Septuagint interpreters, the Jewish commentators, Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, and in the Arabic, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, and above all by the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, it is best to interpret it of them: and Christ was made lower than they by assuming human nature, which is inferior to theirs, especially in the corporeal part of it; and more so, inasmuch as it was attended with infirmities, and subject to sorrows and griefs; and as it was sometimes reduced to great extremes, and to want the comforts of life; and sometimes was in such distress as to need the assistance and ministration of angels, which it had, Mt 4:11; and particularly it was lower than they when deserted by God, whose face they always behold. To which may be added, that Christ was made under, a law given by the disposition of angels, ordained by them, and is called "the word" spoken by them; some parts of which they are not subject to; but the particular instance the apostle observes is suffering of death, Heb 2:9; which angels are not liable to, they die not. The duration of this low estate was "a little while"; for so the Hebrew word may be rendered, as it is in Ps 37:10, and the Greek , used by the Septuagint, and the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, as it is in Acts 5:34; which refers either to the time of suffering death, and lying under the power of that and the grave, which was but a little time; or at most to the days of his flesh, reaching from his incarnation to his resurrection; which was a course but of a few years, and may very well be expressed in this manner. And to this low estate was Christ brought by Jehovah the Father, who is the person spoken of throughout the psalm; he preordained him to it, prepared a body for him, sent him in the fulness of time, made of a woman, made under the law, and had a very great hand in his sufferings and death: though all was with Christ's full consent, and with his free good will;
and hast crowned him with glory and honour; by raising him from the dead, and setting him at his own right hand, committing all judgment to him; and requiring all creatures, angels and men, to give worship and adoration to him. And this being in consequence of his sufferings, after he had run the race, and endured a fight of afflictions; and because of the greatness of his glory and honour, with which he was as it were on all sides surrounded, he is said to be "crowned" with it; who a little before was crowned with thorns, and encompassed with the terrors of death and hell. This respects his mediatorial glory.
(i) "et deficere facies" ("vel facisti", Pagninus) "eum paululum a Deo", Montanus; "destitui quidem eum voluisti paululum a Deo", Michaelis; "carere eum fecisti Deo parumper", Gejerus.
John Wesley
8:5 For - Thou hast in Christ mercifully restored man to his primitive estate, wherein he was but one remove below the angels; from which he was fallen by sin. Crowned - Man, fallen and lost man: who is actually restored to glory and dominion in Christ his head and representative, who received this crown and dominion for man's good, and in his stead; which he will in due time communicate to his members. And so the two expositions of this place concerning mankind and concerning Christ, may be reconciled. For he speaks of that honourable estate conferred first upon Christ, and then by his hands upon mankind. But the words more literally rendered are, Thou madest him a little less than God. And hence some have inferred, that man in his original state was the highest of all creatures.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown
8:5 God has placed man next in dignity to angels, and but a little lower, and has crowned him with the empire of the world.
glory and honour--are the attributes of royal dignity (Ps 21:5; Ps 45:3). The position assigned man is that described (Gen 1:26-28) as belonging to Adam, in his original condition, the terms employed in detailing the subjects of man's dominion corresponding with those there used. In a modified sense, in his present fallen state, man is still invested with some remains of this original dominion. It is very evident, however, by the apostle's inspired expositions (Heb 2:6-8; 1Cor 15:27-28) that the language here employed finds its fulfilment only in the final exaltation of Christ's human nature. There is no limit to the "all things" mentioned, God only excepted, who "puts all things under." Man, in the person and glorious destiny of Jesus of Nazareth, the second Adam, the head and representative of the race, will not only be restored to his original position, but exalted far beyond it. "The last enemy, death," through fear of which, man, in his present estate, is "all his lifetime in bondage" [Heb 2:15], "shall be destroyed" [1Cor 15:26]. Then all things will have been put under his feet, "principalities and powers being made subject to him" [1Pet 3:22]. This view, so far from being alien from the scope of the passage, is more consistent than any other; for man as a race cannot well be conceived to have a higher honor put upon him than to be thus exalted in the person and destiny of Jesus of Nazareth. And at the same time, by no other of His glorious manifestations has God more illustriously declared those attributes which distinguish His name than in the scheme of redemption, of which this economy forms such an important and essential feature. In the generic import of the language, as describing man's present relation to the works of God's hands, it may be regarded as typical, thus allowing not only the usual application, but also this higher sense which the inspired writers of the New Testament have assigned it.
8:68:6: Փոքր ինչ խոնա՛րհ արարեր զնա քան զհրեշտակս քո, փառօք եւ պատուով պսակեցե՛ր զնա,
6 Քո հրեշտակներից փոքր-ինչ ցածր դրիր նրան եւ փառք ու պատուով պսակեցիր նրան:
5 Քիչ մը վար ըրիր զանիկա հրեշտակներէն, Փառքով ու պատուով պսակեցիր զանիկա.
Փոքր ինչ խոնարհ արարեր զնա քան զհրեշտակս քո, փառօք եւ պատուով պսակեցեր զնա:

8:6: Փոքր ինչ խոնա՛րհ արարեր զնա քան զհրեշտակս քո, փառօք եւ պատուով պսակեցե՛ր զնա,
6 Քո հրեշտակներից փոքր-ինչ ցածր դրիր նրան եւ փառք ու պատուով պսակեցիր նրան:
5 Քիչ մը վար ըրիր զանիկա հրեշտակներէն, Փառքով ու պատուով պսակեցիր զանիկա.
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8:58:6 Не много Ты умалил его пред Ангелами: славою и честью увенчал его;
8:6 ἠλάττωσας ελαττοω diminish αὐτὸν αυτος he; him βραχύ βραχυς little τι τις anyone; someone παρ᾿ παρα from; by ἀγγέλους αγγελος messenger δόξῃ δοξα glory καὶ και and; even τιμῇ τιμη honor; value ἐστεφάνωσας στεφανοω laurel αὐτόν αυτος he; him
8:6 תַּ֭מְשִׁילֵהוּ ˈtamšîlēhû משׁל rule בְּ bᵊ בְּ in מַעֲשֵׂ֣י maʕᵃśˈê מַעֲשֶׂה deed יָדֶ֑יךָ yāḏˈeʸḵā יָד hand כֹּ֝ל ˈkōl כֹּל whole שַׁ֣תָּה šˈattā שׁית put תַֽחַת־ ṯˈaḥaṯ- תַּחַת under part רַגְלָֽיו׃ raḡlˈāʸw רֶגֶל foot
8:6. minues eum paulo minus a Deo gloria et decore coronabis eumThou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour:
5. For thou hast made him but little lower than God, and crownest him with glory and honour.
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour:

8:6 Не много Ты умалил его пред Ангелами: славою и честью увенчал его;
8:6
ἠλάττωσας ελαττοω diminish
αὐτὸν αυτος he; him
βραχύ βραχυς little
τι τις anyone; someone
παρ᾿ παρα from; by
ἀγγέλους αγγελος messenger
δόξῃ δοξα glory
καὶ και and; even
τιμῇ τιμη honor; value
ἐστεφάνωσας στεφανοω laurel
αὐτόν αυτος he; him
8:6
תַּ֭מְשִׁילֵהוּ ˈtamšîlēhû משׁל rule
בְּ bᵊ בְּ in
מַעֲשֵׂ֣י maʕᵃśˈê מַעֲשֶׂה deed
יָדֶ֑יךָ yāḏˈeʸḵā יָד hand
כֹּ֝ל ˈkōl כֹּל whole
שַׁ֣תָּה šˈattā שׁית put
תַֽחַת־ ṯˈaḥaṯ- תַּחַת under part
רַגְלָֽיו׃ raḡlˈāʸw רֶגֶל foot
8:6. minues eum paulo minus a Deo gloria et decore coronabis eum
Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour:
5. For thou hast made him but little lower than God, and crownest him with glory and honour.
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А. П. Лопухин: Tолковая Библия или комментарий на все книги Св.Писания Ветхого и Нового Заветов - 1903-1914
6-10. Возвышение Богом человека проявляется как в особенностях его духовной природы, так и в его царственном положении в мире. В первом случае Бог человека "немного умалил пред Ангелами", т. е. человек по своей духовной природе стоит немного ниже ангелов и, как и они, способен к духовно-нравственному бесконечному развитию, чего лишены животные низшие. В этой способности, приближающей человека к высшему миру духов бесплотных и к Богу, его "слава и честь" пред всем остальным миром. Выражение "не много" в святоотеческой литературе понимается еще в смысле указания на время состояния падшего человека в грехе до восстановления его страданиями Мессии, когда человек, непосредственно в себя воспринимая Христа в таинстве Евхаристии, становится через это даже выше ангелов, так как последние не вкушают Евхаристии. Согласно последнему пониманию выражение "не много" равносильно "на некоторое время", т. е. от падения Адама до страданий и воскресения Спасителя человек стоял ниже ангелов, а со времени Христа он близко стал к последним.

Царственное положение человека в мире обнаруживается в его господстве над всеми остальными видами всего растительного и животного царств: ему подчиняются как домашние и дикие животные, так и хищные птицы, и рыбы в морях. Своим разумом, открытиями и изобретениями человек не только обезопасил себя от всех хищных животных, но и подчинил их себе, сделавшись сам предметом страха для них. Примеры такого господства человека у всех на глазах. 3: стих, заключающей в себе пророчество о временах Мессии, содержащееся в самом историческом факте, показывает, что означенный псалом - прообразовательно мессианский.
Adam Clarke: Commentary on the Bible - 1831
8:6: Thou madest him to have dominion - Jesus Christ, who, being in the form of God, and equal with God, for a time emptied himself, and made himself of no reputation; was afterwards highly exalted, and had a name above every name. See the notes referred to above, and those on Phi 2:6-9 (note).
Thou hast put all things under his feet - Though the whole of the brute creation was made subject to Adam in his state of innocence; yet it could never be literally said of him, that God had put all things under his feet, or that he had dominion over the work of God's hands; but all this is most literally true of our Lord Jesus; and to him the apostle, Heb 2:6, etc., applies all these passages.
Albert Barnes: Notes on the Bible - 1834
8:6: Thou madest him to have dominion - Thou didst cause him to have, or didst give him this dominion. It does not mean that God made or created him for that end, but that he had conceded to him that dominion, thus conferring on him exalted honor. The allusion is to Gen 1:26, Gen 1:28.
Over the works of thy hands - His works upon the earth, for the dominion extends no further.
Thou hast put all things under his feet - Hast placed all things in subjection to him. Compare Psa 47:3; Psa 91:13; Lam 3:34; Rom 16:20; Co1 15:25. The language is taken from the act of treading down enemies in battle; from putting the feet on the necks of captives, etc. The idea is that of complete and entire subjection. This dominion was originally given to man at his creation, and it still remains (though not so absolute and entire as this), for nothing is in itself more remarkable than the dominion which man, by nature so feeble, exercises over the inferior creation. it is impossible to account for this in any other way than as it is accounted for in the Bible, by the supposition that it was originally conceded to man by his Creator. On the question of the applicability of this to Christ, see the notes at Heb 2:6-9.
R. A. Torrey - Treasury: Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge - 1880
8:6: madest: Gen 1:26, Gen 1:28, Gen 9:2; Mat 28:18; Heb 1:2
put: Psa 110:1; Co1 15:24-27; Eph 1:22; Heb 2:8; Pe1 3:22
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch
8:6
(Heb.: 8:7-9) Man is a king, and not a king without territory; the world around, with the works of creative wisdom which fill it, is his kingdom. The words "put under his feet" sound like a paraphrase of the רדה in Gen 1:26, Gen 1:28, כּל is unlimited, as in Job 13:1; Job 42:2; Is 44:24. But the expansion of the expression in Ps 8:8, Ps 8:9 extends only to the earth, and is limited even there to the different classes of creatures in the regions of land, air, and water. The poet is enthusiastic in his survey of this province of man's dominion. And his lofty poetic language corresponds to this enthusiasm. The enumeration begins with the domestic animals and passes on from these to the wild beasts-together the creatures that dwell on terra firma. צנה (צנא Num 32:24) from צנה (צנא) Arab. dnâ (dn'), as also Arab. dân, fut. o., proliferum esse is, in poetry, equivalent to צאן, which is otherwise the usual name for small cattle. אלפים (in Aramaic, as the name of the letter shows, a prose word) is in Hebrew poetically equivalent to בּקר; the oxen which willingly accommodate themselves to the service of man, especially of the husbandman, are so called from אלף to yield to. Wild animals, which in prose are called חיּת הארץ, (השּׂדה) here bear the poetical name בּהמות שׂדי, as in Joel 2:22, cf. Joel 1:20, 1Kings 17:44. שׂדי (in pause שׂדי) is the primitive form of שׂדה, which is not declined, and has thereby obtained a collective signification. From the land animals the description passes on to the fowls of the air and the fishes of the water. צפּור is the softer word, instead of עוף; and שׁמים is water. צפּור is the softer word, instead of עוף; and שׁמים is used without the art. according to poetical usage, whereas היּם without the art. would have sounded too scanty and not sufficiently measured. In connection with ימּים the article may be again omitted, just as with שׁמים. עבר is a collective participle. If the following were intended: he (or: since he), viz., man, passes through the paths of the sea (Bttcher, Cassel, and even Aben-Ezra and Kimchi), then it would not have been expressed in such a monostich, and in a form so liable to lead one astray. The words may be a comprehensive designation of that portion of the animal kingdom which is found in the sea; and this also intended to include all from the smallest worm to the gigantic leviathan: ὁππόσα ποντοπόρους παρεπιστείβουσι κελεύθους (Apollinaris). If man thus rules over every living thing that is round about him from the nearest to the most remote, even that which is apparently the most untameable: then it is clear that every lifeless created thing in his vicinity must serve him as its king. The poet regards man in the light of the purpose for which he was created.
John Gill
8:6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands,.... All power in heaven and in earth being given to him: when he was raised from the dead, and when he ascended on high, and was set down at the right hand of God, he was made or declared Lord and Christ; Lord of the hosts of heaven, of all the angels there, King of saints, King of kings, and Lord of lords. All things in heaven and earth, which God has made, are put into his hands, to subserve his cause and glory, and for the good of his people; for he is head over all things to the church. The Ethiopic version reads, "all the works of thy hands"; among whom are angels. This is a greater dominion than was given to the first man, Adam, Gen 1:25;
thou hast put all things under his feet; or put them in subjection to him, as the phrase signifies, and as it is interpreted, Heb 2:8. Good angels are subject to him, as appears by their ministration to him, their dependence on him, and adoration of him, 1Pet 3:22; devils are subject to him, whether they will or not; and so are wicked men, whose power and wrath he is able to restrain, and does; and the church is subject to Christ, as her head; and so all good men, willingly and heartily, and from a principle of love, obey his commands: yea, all creatures in the earth, air, and sea, are in subjection to him; an enumeration of which is given in the following verses.
8:78:7: եւ կացուցեր զնա ՚ի վերայ ձեռակերտա՛ց քոց[6604]։ [6604] Ոմանք.՚Ի վերայ ամենայն ձեռակեր՛՛։
7 Նրան կարգեցիր քո բոլոր ձեռակերտների վրայ:
6 Քու ձեռքերուդ գործերուն վրայ իշխան դրիր զանիկա. Ամէն բան անոր ոտքին տակ դրիր.
եւ կացուցեր զնա ի վերայ ամենայն ձեռակերտաց քոց. զամենայն ինչ հնազանդ արարեր ի ներքոյ ոտից նորա:

8:7: եւ կացուցեր զնա ՚ի վերայ ձեռակերտա՛ց քոց[6604]։
[6604] Ոմանք.՚Ի վերայ ամենայն ձեռակեր՛՛։
7 Նրան կարգեցիր քո բոլոր ձեռակերտների վրայ:
6 Քու ձեռքերուդ գործերուն վրայ իշխան դրիր զանիկա. Ամէն բան անոր ոտքին տակ դրիր.
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8:68:7 поставил его владыкою над делами рук Твоих; всё положил под ноги его:
8:7 καὶ και and; even κατέστησας καθιστημι establish; appoint αὐτὸν αυτος he; him ἐπὶ επι in; on τὰ ο the ἔργα εργον work τῶν ο the χειρῶν χειρ hand σου σου of you; your πάντα πας all; every ὑπέταξας υποτασσω subordinate; subject ὑποκάτω υποκατω underneath τῶν ο the ποδῶν πους foot; pace αὐτοῦ αυτος he; him
8:7 צֹנֶ֣ה ṣōnˈeh צֹנֶה small cattle וַ wa וְ and אֲלָפִ֣ים ʔᵃlāfˈîm אֶלֶף cattle כֻּלָּ֑ם kullˈām כֹּל whole וְ֝ ˈw וְ and גַ֗ם ḡˈam גַּם even בַּהֲמֹ֥ות bahᵃmˌôṯ בְּהֵמָה cattle שָׂדָֽי׃ śāḏˈāy שָׂדַי open field
8:7. dabis ei potestatem super opera manuum tuarumAnd hast set him over the works of thy hands.
6. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all [things] under his feet:

8:7 поставил его владыкою над делами рук Твоих; всё положил под ноги его:
8:7
καὶ και and; even
κατέστησας καθιστημι establish; appoint
αὐτὸν αυτος he; him
ἐπὶ επι in; on
τὰ ο the
ἔργα εργον work
τῶν ο the
χειρῶν χειρ hand
σου σου of you; your
πάντα πας all; every
ὑπέταξας υποτασσω subordinate; subject
ὑποκάτω υποκατω underneath
τῶν ο the
ποδῶν πους foot; pace
αὐτοῦ αυτος he; him
8:7
צֹנֶ֣ה ṣōnˈeh צֹנֶה small cattle
וַ wa וְ and
אֲלָפִ֣ים ʔᵃlāfˈîm אֶלֶף cattle
כֻּלָּ֑ם kullˈām כֹּל whole
וְ֝ ˈw וְ and
גַ֗ם ḡˈam גַּם even
בַּהֲמֹ֥ות bahᵃmˌôṯ בְּהֵמָה cattle
שָׂדָֽי׃ śāḏˈāy שָׂדַי open field
8:7. dabis ei potestatem super opera manuum tuarum
And hast set him over the works of thy hands.
6. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
ru▾ LXX-gloss▾ bhs-gloss▾ vulgate▾ erva_1895▾
jg▾ gnv▾ tr▾ ab▾ ac▾ all ▾
Adam Clarke: Commentary on the Bible - 1831
8:7: All sheep and oxen - All domestic animals, and those to be employed in agriculture.
Beasts of the field - All wild beasts, and inhabitants of the forest.
Albert Barnes: Notes on the Bible - 1834
8:7: All sheep and oxen - Flocks and herds. Gen 1:26, "over the cattle." Nothing is more manifest than the control which man exercises over flocks and herds - making them subservient to his use, and obedient to his will.
And the beasts of the field - Those not included in the general phrase "sheep and oxen." The word rendered "field," שׂדה ś â deh - or the poetic form, as here - שׂדי ś â day, means properly a plain; a level tract of country; then, a field, or a tilled farm, Gen 23:17; Gen 47:20-21,; and then the fields, the open country, as opposed to a city, a village, a camp Gen 25:27; and hence, in this place the expression means the beasts that roam at large - wild beasts, Gen 2:20; Gen 3:14. Here the allusion is to the power which man has of subduing the wild beasts; of capturing them, and making them subservient to his purposes; of pRev_enting their increase and their depredations; and of taming them so that they shall obey his will, and become his servants. Nothing is more remarkable than this, and nothing furnishcs a better illustration of Scripture than the conformity of this with the declaration Gen 9:2, "And the fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air," etc. Compare the notes at Jam 3:7. It is to be remembered that no small number of what are now domestic animals were originally wild, and that they have been subdued and tamed by the power anti skill of man. No animal has shown himself superior to this power and skill.
R. A. Torrey - Treasury: Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge - 1880
8:7: Heb. Flocks and oxen, all of them, Gen 2:20
Geneva 1599
8:7 All (d) sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
(d) By the temporal gifts of man's creation, he is led to consider the benefits which he has by his regeneration through Christ.
John Gill
8:7 All sheep and oxen,.... The tame creatures, which are useful for food and clothing:
yea, and the beasts of the field; the wild beasts, which he can make use of to destroy and devour his enemies, and whom he can restrain from harming his own people, Jer 15:8.
8:88:8: Զամենայն ինչ հնազա՛նդ արարեր ՚ի ներքոյ ոտից նորա, զխաշն եւ զարջառ՝ եւ զամենայն ինչ։
8 Ամէն ինչ դրիր նրա ոտքերի ներքոյ՝ ոչխար, արջառ եւ ամէն ինչ,
7 Բոլոր ոչխարները ու արջառները, Նաեւ վայրենի անասունները,
զխաշն եւ զարջառ եւ զամենայն ինչ, եւս եւ զերէ վայրի:

8:8: Զամենայն ինչ հնազա՛նդ արարեր ՚ի ներքոյ ոտից նորա, զխաշն եւ զարջառ՝ եւ զամենայն ինչ։
8 Ամէն ինչ դրիր նրա ոտքերի ներքոյ՝ ոչխար, արջառ եւ ամէն ինչ,
7 Բոլոր ոչխարները ու արջառները, Նաեւ վայրենի անասունները,
zohrab-1805▾ eastern-1994▾ western am▾
8:78:8 овец и волов всех, и также полевых зверей,
8:8 πρόβατα προβατον sheep καὶ και and; even βόας βους ox πάσας πας all; every ἔτι ετι yet; still δὲ δε though; while καὶ και and; even τὰ ο the κτήνη κτηνος livestock; animal τοῦ ο the πεδίου πεδιον plain
8:8 צִפֹּ֣ור ṣippˈôr צִפֹּור bird שָׁ֭מַיִם ˈšāmayim שָׁמַיִם heavens וּ û וְ and דְגֵ֣י ḏᵊḡˈê דָּג fish הַ ha הַ the יָּ֑ם yyˈom יָם sea עֹ֝בֵ֗ר ˈʕōvˈēr עבר pass אָרְחֹ֥ות ʔorḥˌôṯ אֹרַח path יַמִּֽים׃ yammˈîm יָם sea
8:8. cuncta posuisti sub pedibus eius oves et armenta omnia insuper et animalia agriThou hast subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen: moreover, the beasts also of the fields.
7. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field:

8:8 овец и волов всех, и также полевых зверей,
8:8
πρόβατα προβατον sheep
καὶ και and; even
βόας βους ox
πάσας πας all; every
ἔτι ετι yet; still
δὲ δε though; while
καὶ και and; even
τὰ ο the
κτήνη κτηνος livestock; animal
τοῦ ο the
πεδίου πεδιον plain
8:8
צִפֹּ֣ור ṣippˈôr צִפֹּור bird
שָׁ֭מַיִם ˈšāmayim שָׁמַיִם heavens
וּ û וְ and
דְגֵ֣י ḏᵊḡˈê דָּג fish
הַ ha הַ the
יָּ֑ם yyˈom יָם sea
עֹ֝בֵ֗ר ˈʕōvˈēr עבר pass
אָרְחֹ֥ות ʔorḥˌôṯ אֹרַח path
יַמִּֽים׃ yammˈîm יָם sea
8:8. cuncta posuisti sub pedibus eius oves et armenta omnia insuper et animalia agri
Thou hast subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen: moreover, the beasts also of the fields.
7. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
ru▾ LXX-gloss▾ bhs-gloss▾ vulgate▾ erva_1895▾
jg▾ tr▾ ab▾ ac▾ all ▾
Adam Clarke: Commentary on the Bible - 1831
8:8: The fowl of the air - All these were given to man in the beginning; and he has still a general dominion over them; for thus saith the Lord: "The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every Beast of the Earth, and upon every Fowl of the Air, and upon all that Moveth upon the Earth, and upon all the Fishes of the Sea; into your hand are they delivered;" Gen 9:2. To this passage the psalmist most obviously refers.
Albert Barnes: Notes on the Bible - 1834
8:8: The fowl of the air - Gen 1:26, "Over the fowl of the air." Gen 9:2, "upon every fowl of the air." This dominion is the more remarkable because the birds of the air seem to be beyond the reach of man; and yet, equally with the beasts of the field, they are subject to his control. Man captures and destroys them; he pRev_ents their multiplication and their ravages. Numerous as they are, and rapid as is their flight, and strong as many of them are, they have never succeeded in making man subject to them, or in disturbing the purposes of man. See the notes at Jam 3:7.
And the fish of the sea - Gen 1:26, "Over the fish of the sea." Gen 9:2, "upon all the fishes of the sea." This must be understood in a general sense, and this is perhaps still more remarkable than the dominion over the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, for the fishes that swim in the ocean seem to be placed still farther from the control of man. Yet, so far as is necessary for his use and for safety, they are, in fact, put under the control of man, and he makes them minister to his profit. Not a little of that which contributes to the support the comfort, and the luxury of man, comes from the ocean. From the mighty whale to the shellfish that furnished the Tyrian dye, or to that which furnishes the beautiful pearl, man has shown his power to make the dwellers in the deep subservient to his will.
And whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas - Everything, in general, that passes through the paths of the sea, as if the ocean was formed with paths or highways for them to pass over. Some have referred this to man, as passing over the sea and subduing its inhabitants; some, to the fishes before spoken of; but the most natural construction is that which is adotpted in our received version, as referring to everything which moves in the waters. The idea is that man has a wide and universal dominion - a dominion so wide as to excite amazement, wonder, and gratitude, that it has been conceded to one so feeble as he is.
R. A. Torrey - Treasury: Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge - 1880
8:8: The fowl: Psa 148:10; Gen 1:20-25; Job 38:39-41, Job 39:1-30, Job 40:15-24, Job 41:1-34
John Gill
8:8 The fowl of the air,.... These he rained about the tents of the Israelites for their relief, Ps 78:27, and can command them to feed his people, as the ravens did Elijah, 3Kings 17:4; or to destroy his enemies, Jer 15:3; see Ps 50:10;
and the fish of the sea: instances of Christ's power over them, and of their being at his command, and for his service, may be seen in Mt 17:27;
and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas: some (k) understand this of ships, made by the wisdom and art of men, in which they pass through the paths of the sea, and fish in the midst of it. The Targum paraphrases it, "and leviathan, which passes through the paths of the sea". Compare with this Is 27:1. Some interpret all these things in a figurative and allegorical way; and some of the ancients by "sheep" understood believers among the Gentiles; by "oxen", the Jews; by "the beasts of the field", idolaters and profane persons; "by the fowls of the air", angels; and by "the fish of the sea", devils: but these are much better explained by Cocceius, who, by "sheep", understands common members of the churches; by "oxen", those that labour in the word and doctrine; by "the beasts of the field", aliens from the city and kingdom of God; men fierce and cruel, Is 11:6; by "the fowl of the air", such as are tilted up with pride and vanity; and by "the fish of the sea", such as are immersed in worldly pleasures. But it is best to interpret the whole literally; from whence may be observed, that what was lost by the first Adam is restored by the second; and that believers have a free use of all the creatures through Christ: and not only the things here mentioned are subject to him, but everything else; there is nothing left that is not put under him, only he is excepted that put all things under him, Heb 2:8.
(k) Aben Ezra & Kimchi in loc.
8:98:9: Եւս եւ զերէ՛ վայրի, զթռչունս երկնից, զձկունս ծովուց որ շրջին ընդ շաւիղս ծովուց[6605]։ [6605] Ոմանք.Եւ զձկունս ծովու, ոյք շրջին... ծովու։
9 նաեւ վայրի երէ, երկնքի թռչուններ, ծովի ձկներ, որ շրջում են ծովերի հոսանքներում:
8 Երկնքի թռչունները ու ծովուն ձուկերը Եւ ինչ որ ծովու ճամբաներուն մէջ կը պտըտի։
զթռչունս երկնից, զձկունս ծովու` որ շրջին ընդ շաւիղս ծովու:

8:9: Եւս եւ զերէ՛ վայրի, զթռչունս երկնից, զձկունս ծովուց որ շրջին ընդ շաւիղս ծովուց[6605]։
[6605] Ոմանք.Եւ զձկունս ծովու, ոյք շրջին... ծովու։
9 նաեւ վայրի երէ, երկնքի թռչուններ, ծովի ձկներ, որ շրջում են ծովերի հոսանքներում:
8 Երկնքի թռչունները ու ծովուն ձուկերը Եւ ինչ որ ծովու ճամբաներուն մէջ կը պտըտի։
zohrab-1805▾ eastern-1994▾ western am▾
8:88:9 птиц небесных и рыб морских, все, преходящее морскими стезями.
8:9 τὰ ο the πετεινὰ πετεινος bird τοῦ ο the οὐρανοῦ ουρανος sky; heaven καὶ και and; even τοὺς ο the ἰχθύας ιχθυς fish τῆς ο the θαλάσσης θαλασσα sea τὰ ο the διαπορευόμενα διαπορευομαι travel through τρίβους τριβος path θαλασσῶν θαλασσα sea
8:9 יְהוָ֥ה [yᵊhwˌāh] יְהוָה YHWH אֲדֹנֵ֑ינוּ ʔᵃḏōnˈênû אָדֹון lord מָֽה־ mˈā- מָה what אַדִּ֥יר ʔaddˌîr אַדִּיר mighty שִׁ֝מְךָ֗ ˈšimᵊḵˈā שֵׁם name בְּ bᵊ בְּ in כָל־ ḵol- כֹּל whole הָ hā הַ the אָֽרֶץ׃ ʔˈāreṣ אֶרֶץ earth
8:9. aves caeli et pisces maris qui pertranseunt semitas pontiThe birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, that pass through the paths of the sea.
8. The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, [and whatsoever] passeth through the paths of the seas:

8:9 птиц небесных и рыб морских, все, преходящее морскими стезями.
8:9
τὰ ο the
πετεινὰ πετεινος bird
τοῦ ο the
οὐρανοῦ ουρανος sky; heaven
καὶ και and; even
τοὺς ο the
ἰχθύας ιχθυς fish
τῆς ο the
θαλάσσης θαλασσα sea
τὰ ο the
διαπορευόμενα διαπορευομαι travel through
τρίβους τριβος path
θαλασσῶν θαλασσα sea
8:9
יְהוָ֥ה [yᵊhwˌāh] יְהוָה YHWH
אֲדֹנֵ֑ינוּ ʔᵃḏōnˈênû אָדֹון lord
מָֽה־ mˈā- מָה what
אַדִּ֥יר ʔaddˌîr אַדִּיר mighty
שִׁ֝מְךָ֗ ˈšimᵊḵˈā שֵׁם name
בְּ bᵊ בְּ in
כָל־ ḵol- כֹּל whole
הָ hā הַ the
אָֽרֶץ׃ ʔˈāreṣ אֶרֶץ earth
8:9. aves caeli et pisces maris qui pertranseunt semitas ponti
The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, that pass through the paths of the sea.
8. The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
ru▾ LXX-gloss▾ bhs-gloss▾ vulgate▾ erva_1895▾
jfb▾ jg▾ kad▾ tr▾ ab▾ ac▾ all ▾
Adam Clarke: Commentary on the Bible - 1831
8:9: O Lord our Lord - The psalmist concludes as he began. Jehovah, our prop and support! his name is excellent in all the earth. The name of Jesus is celebrated in almost every part of the habitable globe; for his Gospel has been preached, or is in the progress of being preached, through the whole world. Bibles and missionaries are now carrying his name, and proclaiming his fame, to the utmost nations of the earth.
The whole of this Psalm, and the seventh and eighth verses in particular, have been the subject of much spiritualization in ancient and modern times. I shall give two examples: one from the pious Bishop Horne; the other from the ancient Latino - Scotico - English Psalter, mentioned before.
That of Bisnop Horne, on the Psa 8:7 and Psa 8:8, is as follows: "Adam, upon his creation, was invested with sovereign dominion over the creatures, in words of the same import with these, Gen 1:28, which are therefore here used, and the creatures particularized, to inform us that what the first Adam lost by transgression, the second Adam gained by obedience. That glory which was set above the heavens could not but be over all things on the earth; and accordingly we hear our Lord saying, after his resurrection, 'All power is given unto me in heaven and earth,'Mat 28:18. Nor is it a speculation unpleasing or unprofitable to consider that he who rules over the material world is Lord also of the intellectual or spiritual creation represented thereby.
"The souls of the faithful, lowly, and harmless, are the sheep of his pasture; those who like oxen, are strong to labor in the Church, and who by expounding the word of life tread out the corn for the nourishment of the people, own him for their kind and beneficent Master. Nay, tempers fierce and untractable as the wild beasts of the desert, are yet subject to his will. Spirits of the angelic kind, that, like the birds of the air, traverse freely the superior region, move at his command; and these evil ones, whose habitation is in the deep abyss, even to the great leviathan himself, all, all are put under the feet of the King Messiah; who, because he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, was therefore highly exalted, and had a name given him above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, whether of things in heaven, or things on earth, or things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father; Phi 2:8, etc." Thus far the pious bishop.
I shall now give, as a singular curiosity, the whole Psalm, with its translation and paraphrase, from the ancient MS. already mentioned; inserting first the Latin text; next, the translation; and, thirdly, the paraphrase. The Latin text seems to be the old Itala, or Antehieronymian; at least it has readings which have been thought peculiar to that version.
Psa 8:1-9
Psa 8:1
Domine Deus noster, quoniam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra.
Trans. Lord our Lord, qwat thi name es wonderfull in al the Erde.
Par. The prophete in louing, bygynnes and says: Lord of al, thow ert specialy our Lord that dredes the, loves the. "Thi name" that es the ioy and the fame of thi name Ihesu: for the creaturs that thu hes made and bought qwat it es wonderful. Als so say withouten end: for nane suffis for to knaw al creaturs: in qwilk wonder of the, and that in al the Erd, nought in a party anely.
Quoniam elevata est magnificencia tua super Celos.
Trans. For lyfted es thi worchyp aboven hevens.
Par. That es at say, thu ert mare worthy to be loued and wirchepyd than any Aungel or haly Saule may thynk.
Psa 8:2
Ex ore infancium et lactencium perfecisti laudem, propter inimicos tuos, ut destruas inimicum et ultorem.
Trans. Of the mouth of nought spekand, and sowkand, thou has made louying, for thin enmys, that tbou destroye the enmy and the venger.
Par. Nought anely thow ert loued of perfite men, bot of the mouthe of barnes that spekes nought: Zit there er tha that kan nought speke the wisdom of this werld: and of soukand, the qwilk gladdely resayves the lare of haly Kyrk theare moder. Thow has made thi luf thug perfyte for thin enmys: fals cristen men, to schame and to schende for thai er wer than er haythen men. That thu destruy the enmy; that es, he that es wyse in his awen eghen; and wil nought be underloute til thi wil: "and the venger": that es he that defends his Syn; and sais that he synnes nought; or that his syn es les than other mennes.
Psa 8:3
Quoniam videbo celos tuos, et opera digitorum tuorum, lunam et stellas quas tu fundasti.
Trans. For I sal se thi hevens werkes of thi fyngers the mone and the Sternys the quilk thow groundid.
Par. Thow destrues al that es contrariand til the; bot i in al thying confourom me to do thi wil, for thi i sal se in lyf withouten end. "Thi hevens", that es Aungels and Apostels the qwilk er werkes of thi fingers: that es, that er mode perfyte thurgh the Haly Gost, of qwam es seven gyftes. Of he be bot a Spirit, als mani fyngers er in a hand. And i sal see the "Mone", that es haly Kyrk: and the sternes that es ilk a ryghtwise man by hym selfe, the qwilk thu groundid in charite.
Psa 8:4
Quid est homo quod memor es ejus; aut filius hominis, quoniam visitas eum?
Trans. What es man that thu ert menand of hym: or son of man for thou visites hym?
Par. Als it war with despyte, he sais "man", erdely and synful, qwat es he, that thu has mynd of hym. Als fer sett fra the; at the lest gyfand hym hele and ese of body. Or "son of man": that es, he that es gastely, and beres the ymage of heven. Qwat es he, for thou visits hym. Als present the qwilk es nere the for clennes of lyf. Or "son of man" he calles Crist, thrugh qwam he visits mannes kynd.
Psa 8:5
Minuisti eum paullo minus ab angelis: gloria et honore coronasti eum; et constituisti eum super opera manuum tuarum.
Trans. Thow lessed hym a littil fra aungels; with ioy and honor thu coround hym: and thu sett him aboven the werkes of thi hend.
Par. Crist was lessed fra aungels, for he was dedely, and mught suffer pyne; but a littel; for in other thyng, es he abouen aungels, thair Kyng and Sychthu thou coround hym with ioy, that es with brighthede of body, na mare sufferand pyne; and honor, for he es honorable til al: and thou sett hym abouen aungels and al creatures.
Psa 8:6, Psa 8:7
Omnia subjecisti sub pedibus ejus: oves et boves insuper et pecora campi.
Trans. Al thynges thu underkest undyr his fete: schepe and oxen al over that, and the bestes of the feld.
Par. That undyr hys Lordschyp and hys myght, in has cestyn al thyng: tha er "schepe" that er innocentes, als well aungels als men. "And oxen", tha er, traveland men gastely, in haly Kyrk, "over that"; and the "bestes of the feld"; thai er lufers of this werld, wonnand, in the feld of fleschly lusts; noght in hillis of vertus; and so be the brode way thai ga til hell.
Psa 8:8
Volucres celi et pisces maris qui perambulant semitas maris.
Trans. Fowls of heven and fysche of the see, that gas the wayes of the see.
Par. "Fowls of heven", er prowde men that wald hee thair setil abouen al other. "Fysches of the see", er covaytus men, the qwilk in the ground of the werld, sekes erthdly gudes, that all stretes in the see, sone wither oway. Al thir sal be underlout til Crist onther herts in grace, or thare in pine.
Psa 8:9
Domine Deus noster, quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra.
Trans. Lard our Lard qwat thi name is wonderful in al the erth.
Par. Als he bigan swa he endes, schewand that bygyning and endyng of al gode, is of Gode; and til his louing agh i for to be done.
The reader will no doubt be struck with the remarkable agreement between the pious bishop of Norwich and this ancient translator and paraphrast, particularly on the Psa 8:7 and Psa 8:8. The language also is in several respects singular. The participle of the present tense, which we terminate with "ing", is here almost always terminated with "and." So "Spekand, sowkand, gyfand, sufferand, traveland", for speaking, sucking, giving, suffering, travelling, etc.
As the participle signifies the continuance of the action, the termination and seems much more proper than ing; speak - and, i.e., continuing to speak; give - and, continuing to give; suffer - and, suffer more; travel - and, travel on, etc. There are some words in this ancient MS. which I have met nowhere else.
Albert Barnes: Notes on the Bible - 1834
8:9: O Lord our Lord, how excellent ... - Repeating the sentiment with which the psalm opens, as now fully illustrated, or as its propriety is now seen. The intermediate thoughts are simply an illustration of this; and now we see what occupied the attention of the psalmist when, in Psa 8:1, he gave utterance to what seems there to be a somewhat abrupt sentiment. We now, at the close of the psalm, see clearly its beauty and truthfulness.
R. A. Torrey - Treasury: Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge - 1880
8:9: Psa 8:1, Psa 104:24; Deu 33:26; Job 11:7
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch
8:9
(Heb.: 8:10) 8:10. He has now demonstrated what he expressed in Ps 8:2, that the name of Jahve whose glory is reflected by the heavens, is also glorious on earth. Thus, then, he can as a conclusion repeat the thought with which he began, in a wider and more comprehensive meaning, and weave his Psalm together, as it were, into a wreath.
Tit is just this Psalm, of which one would have least expected it, that is frequently quoted in the New Testament and applied to the Messiah. Indeed Jesus' designation of Himself by ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, however far it may refer back to the Old Testament Scriptures, leans no less upon this Psalm than upon Dan 7:13. The use the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 2:6-8) makes of Ps 8:5 of this Psalm shows us how the New Testament application to the Messiah is effected. The psalmist regards man as one who glorifies God and as a prince created of God. The deformation of this position by sin he leaves unheeded. But both sides of the mode of regarding it are warranted. On the one hand, we see that which man has become by creation still in operation even in his present state; on the other hand, we see it distorted and stunted. If we compare what the Psalm says with this shady side of the reality, from which side it is incongruous with the end of man's creation, then the song which treats of the man of the present becomes a prophecy of the man of the future. The Psalm undergoes this metamorphosis in the New Testament consciousness, which looks more to the loss than to that which remains of the original. In fact, the centre of the New Testament consciousness is Jesus the Restorer of that which is lost. The dominion of the world lost to fallen man, and only retained by him in a ruined condition, is allotted to mankind, when redeemed by Him, in fuller and more perfect reality. This dominion is not yet in the actual possession of mankind, but in the person of Jesus it now sits enthroned at the right hand of God. In Him the idea of humanity is transcendently realised, i.e., according to a very much higher standard than that laid down when the world was founded. He has entered into the state-only a little (βραχύ τι) beneath the angels - of created humanity for a little while (βραχύ τι), in order to raise redeemed humanity above the angels. Everything (כּל) is really put under Him with just as little limitation as is expressed in this Psalm: not merely the animal kingdom, not merely the world itself, but the universe with all the ruling powers in it, whether they be in subjection or in hostility to God, yea even the power of death (1Cor 15:27, cf. Eph 1:22). Moreover, by redemption, more than heretofore, the confession which comes from the mouth of little children is become a bulwark founded of God, in order that against it the resistance of the opponents of revelation may be broken. We have an example of this in Mt 21:16, where our Lord points the pharisees and scribes, who are enraged at the Hosanna of the children, to Ps 8:3. Redemption demands of man, before everything else, that he should become as a little child, and reveals its mysteries to infants, which are hidden from the wise and intelligent. Thus, therefore, it is μικροὶ καὶ νήπιοι, whose tongue is loosed by the Spirit of God, who are to put to shame the unbelieving; and all that this Psalm says of the man of the present becomes in the light of the New Testament in its relation to the history of redemption, a prophecy of the Son of man κατ ̓ ἐξοχήν, and of the new humanity.
John Gill
8:9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! The psalm ends with the same words with which it begins; which shows that the sense of this, with which the psalmist was affected, continued with him, and doubtless increased, after such a confirmation of it, by the instances he was led to take notice of. See Gill on Ps 8:1.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown
8:9 Appropriately, the writer closes this brief but pregnant and sublime song of praise with the terms of admiration with which it was opened.
8:108:10: Տէր Տէր մեր՝ զի սքանչելի՛ է անուն քո յամենայն երկրի։ Տունք. թ̃։ Գոբղայս. իզ̃։
10 Տէ՛ր, ո՛վ մեր Տէր, ի՜նչ հրաշալի է քո անունը ողջ աշխարհում: ԱՍՏՈՒԱԾ՝ ԱՊԱՒԷՆ ԽԵՂՃԵՐԻ ԵՒ ՃՆՇՈՒԱԾՆԵՐԻ
9 Ով Տէր, մեր Տէրը, Ի՜նչ փառաւոր է քու անունդ բոլոր երկրի վրայ։
Տէր, Տէր մեր, զի՜ սքանչելի է անուն քո յամենայն երկրի:

8:10: Տէր Տէր մեր՝ զի սքանչելի՛ է անուն քո յամենայն երկրի։ Տունք. թ̃։ Գոբղայս. իզ̃։
10 Տէ՛ր, ո՛վ մեր Տէր, ի՜նչ հրաշալի է քո անունը ողջ աշխարհում: ԱՍՏՈՒԱԾ՝ ԱՊԱՒԷՆ ԽԵՂՃԵՐԻ ԵՒ ՃՆՇՈՒԱԾՆԵՐԻ
9 Ով Տէր, մեր Տէրը, Ի՜նչ փառաւոր է քու անունդ բոլոր երկրի վրայ։
zohrab-1805▾ eastern-1994▾ western am▾
8:98:10 Господи, Боже наш! Как величественно имя Твое по всей земле!
8:10 κύριε κυριος lord; master ὁ ο the κύριος κυριος lord; master ἡμῶν ημων our ὡς ως.1 as; how θαυμαστὸν θαυμαστος wonderful τὸ ο the ὄνομά ονομα name; notable σου σου of you; your ἐν εν in πάσῃ πας all; every τῇ ο the γῇ γη earth; land
8:10. Domine Dominator noster quam grande est nomen tuum in universa terraO Lord, our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth!
9. O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
O LORD our Lord, how excellent [is] thy name in all the earth:

8:10 Господи, Боже наш! Как величественно имя Твое по всей земле!
8:10
κύριε κυριος lord; master
ὁ ο the
κύριος κυριος lord; master
ἡμῶν ημων our
ὡς ως.1 as; how
θαυμαστὸν θαυμαστος wonderful
τὸ ο the
ὄνομά ονομα name; notable
σου σου of you; your
ἐν εν in
πάσῃ πας all; every
τῇ ο the
γῇ γη earth; land
8:10. Domine Dominator noster quam grande est nomen tuum in universa terra
O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth!
9. O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
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