Psalms 8
What Happens in This Chapter
This psalm is a song of praise to God. It starts and ends with the same line: God's name is great everywhere on earth. In the middle, the writer looks up at the moon and stars and wonders why God pays attention to people at all. He says God made people rulers over the animals, the birds, and the fish.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
1LORD, you are our master. Your name is great in all the earth! You have set your shining greatness higher than the heavens.
In the King James Bible, LORD in big letters stands for God's own name. The word 'Lord' right after it means master or ruler.
2Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
2Little children and babies speak your praise. You made that praise strong. You did it because of people who fight against you. Their small voices make your enemies grow quiet.
'Babes and sucklings' is old English for little children and babies who still drink milk.
3When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
3I look up at the sky that you made. Your own fingers made it. You put the moon and the stars in their places.
4What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
4So why do you think about people at all? Why do you care about a human being?
'Son of man' is an old way of saying 'a person' or 'a human being.'
5For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
5You made people just a little lower than the angels. Angels are God's helpers in heaven. You gave people glory and honor, like a crown on a king's head.
6Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
6You let people rule over everything your hands have made. You put it all under their feet.
7All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
7That means all the sheep and cows, and the wild animals in the fields.
8The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
8It means the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea. It means everything that swims through the water.
9O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
9LORD, you are our master. Your name is great in all the earth!
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