GOD'S SPLENDOR
For the Pure and Shining One
Set to the melody of “For the Feast of Harvest,”[a] by King David
1 Lord, your name is so great and powerful!
People everywhere see your splendor.
Your glorious majesty streams from the heavens,
filling the earth with the fame of your name!
2 You have built a stronghold by the songs of babies.
Strength rises up with the chorus of singing children.
This kind of praise has the power to shut Satan’s mouth.
Childlike worship will silence[b]
the madness of those who oppose you.
3 Look at the splendor of your skies,
your creative genius glowing in the heavens.
When I gaze at your moon and your stars,
mounted like jewels in their settings,
I know you are the fascinating artist who fashioned it all!
But when I look up and see
such wonder and workmanship above,
I have to ask you this question:
4 Compared to all this cosmic glory,[c]
why would you bother with puny, mortal man
or be infatuated with Adam’s sons?
5 Yet what honor you have given to men,
created only a little lower than Elohim,[d]
crowned like kings and queens[e] with glory and magnificence.
6 You have delegated to them
mastery over all you have made,
making everything subservient to their authority,
placing earth itself under the feet of your image-bearers.[f]
7–8 All the created order and every living thing
of the earth, sky, and sea—
the wildest beasts and all the sea creatures—
everything is in submission to Adam’s sons.
9 Lord, your name is so great and powerful.
People everywhere see your majesty!
What glory streams from the heavens,
filling the earth with the fame of your name!
Footnotes:
Psalm 8:1 This inscription in the Septuagint is “To the director over the wine vats.”
Psalm 8:2 There may be a vast difference between the glory of the heavens and the little mouths of children and babies, yet by both the majestic name of the Lord is revealed. It is amazing that perfected praises do not rise to God from the cherubim or seraphim, but from children and babies, the weakest of humanity.
Psalm 8:4 David looked away from the darkness of earth and saw the divine order of the universe. This psalm is meant to join the earth to the heavens and to bring the heavenly glory into the earth, making the heavens and the earth one.
Psalm 8:5 This is the same Hebrew word used for the Creator-God in Gen. 1:1.
Psalm 8:5 The concept of kings and queens is implied in the text by the word crowned.
Psalm 8:6 The Septuagint translation of 8:5–7 is quoted in Heb. 2:6-8. Today, all things are not yet under our feet. Even mosquitoes still come to defeat us. But there will be a time of restoration because of Christ’s redemption, when everything will rest beneath our authority. See Isa. 11:6-9; 65:25; Matt. 19:28; Rev. 20:4-6.
~Psalm 8 The Passion Translation (TPT)
