King James Version
Psalms 8
9 verses with commentary
How Majestic Is Your Name
To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.</strong> This majestic opening immediately establishes the psalm's theme: God's transcendent glory revealed through creation. The Hebrew text's wordplay is lost in English translation. "LORD" renders <em>Yahweh</em> (יְהוָה), God's personal covenant name, while "Lord" translates <em>Adona...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(1) **O Lord our Lord.**—*Jehovah our Lord. *For the first time in the Book of Psalms the personal feeling is consciously lost sight of in a larger, a national, or possibly human feeling. The poet recognises God’s relation to the whole of mankind as to the whole material creation. Thus the hymn appropriately lent itself to the use of the congregation in public worship, though it does not follow th...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
25. God has adjusted the weight of the winds, so seemingly imponderable, lest, if too weighty, or too light, injury should be caused. He measureth out the waters, fixing their bounds, with wisdom as His counsellor (Pr 8:27-31; Is 40:12).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 8
Chapter Outline
God is to be glorified, for making known himself to us.(1-2)
And for making even the heavenly bodies useful to man, thereby placing him but little lower than the angels.(3-9)
**Verses 1-2**
The psalmist seeks to give unto God the glory due to his name. How bright this glory shines even in this lower world! He is ours, for he made us, protects us, and tak...
Read full commentary →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. ordained: Heb. founded
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>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.</strong> This verse presents a stunning paradox: God establishes His strength through the weakest, most vulnerable members of society—infants and nursing babies. The Hebrew <em>olalim</em> (עוֹלָלִים) refers to young children, while <em>yoneqim</...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Babes and sucklings.**—Better, *young children and sucklings. *A regular phrase to describe children from one to three years old (1Samuel 15:3; 1Samuel 22:19). The *yonek, *or suckling, denotes an earlier stage of the nursing period (which, with Hebrew mothers, sometimes extended over three years, 2 Maccabees 7:27, and on Talmudic authority could not be less than two years) than the *ôlel, *...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
26. The decree regulating at what time and place, and in what quantity, the rain should fall.
**a way--**through the parted clouds (Job 38:25; Zec 10:1).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 8
Chapter Outline
God is to be glorified, for making known himself to us.(1-2)
And for making even the heavenly bodies useful to man, thereby placing him but little lower than the angels.(3-9)
**Verses 1-2**
The psalmist seeks to give unto God the glory due to his name. How bright this glory shines even in this lower world! He is ours, for he made us, protects us, and tak...
Read full commentary →When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;</strong> This verse records David's contemplative response to the night sky. The verb "consider" (<em>ra'ah</em>, רָאָה) means more than casual observation; it suggests intentional looking, perceiving, and understanding. David doesn't merely glance at stars; he meditates on their theolog...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **When I consider.**—Literally, *see, scan.*
**Ordained.**—Or, as in margin, *founded*—*i.e., created, formed; *but the English word aptly introduces the idea of *order *in the *kosmos. *Comp.:—
“Know the cause why music was ordained?
—SHAKESPEARE.
In our humid climate we can hardly imagine the brilliance of an Eastern night. “There,” writes one of a night in Palestine, “it seems so, bearing d...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**27. declare--**manifest her, namely, in His works (Psa 19:1, 2). So the approval bestowed by the Creator on His works (Ge 1:10, 31); compare the "rejoicing" of wisdom at the same (Pr 8:30; which Umbreit translates; "I was the skilful artificer by His side").
**prepared--**not created, for wisdom is from everlasting (Pr 8:22-31); but "established" her as Governor of the world.
**searched ... ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-9**
We are to consider the heavens, that man thus may be directed to set his affections on things above. What is man, so mean a creature, that he should be thus honoured! so sinful a creature, that he should be thus favoured! Man has sovereign dominion over the inferior creatures, under God, and is appointed their lord. This refers to Christ. In He 2:6-8, the apostle, to prove the s...
Read full commentary →What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?</strong> From cosmic contemplation David turns to anthropological wonder. These rhetorical questions express not skepticism but profound amazement. After considering the heavens' vastness, David marvels that God pays attention to insignificant humanity. The contrast is deliberate and stunning: infinite C...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Man . . .** **son of** **man . . .**—The first, possibly, with suggestion of frailty; the second to his life derived from human ancestry. The answer to this question must always touch the two poles, of human frailty on the one hand, and the glory of human destiny on the other. “O the grandeur and the littleness, the excellence and the corruption, the majesty and the meanness, of man.”—*Pasca...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
28. Rather, "But unto man," &c. My wisdom is that whereby all things are governed; Thy wisdom is in fearing God and shunning evil, and in feeling assured that My wisdom always acts aright, though thou dost not understand the principle which regulates it; for example, in afflicting the godly (Joh 7:17). The friends, therefore, as not comprehending the Divine Wisdom, should not infer Job's guilt...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-9**
We are to consider the heavens, that man thus may be directed to set his affections on things above. What is man, so mean a creature, that he should be thus honoured! so sinful a creature, that he should be thus favoured! Man has sovereign dominion over the inferior creatures, under God, and is appointed their lord. This refers to Christ. In He 2:6-8, the apostle, to prove the s...
Read full commentary →For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.</strong> This verse answers the previous question, explaining why humanity merits divine attention. Despite our insignificance compared to cosmic vastness, God has given humans unique dignity and purpose. The verse balances human limitation ("a little lower than the angels") with human exalta...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) The Hebrew poet dwells on neither of these aspects, but at once passes on to the essential greatness of man and his superiority in creation, by reason of his moral sense and his spiritual likeness to God. Another English poet sings to the stars:—
“’Tis to be forgiven
That, in our aspirations to be great,
Our destinies o’erleap their mortal state,
And claim a kindred with you.”
—BYRON: *Childe ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-9**
We are to consider the heavens, that man thus may be directed to set his affections on things above. What is man, so mean a creature, that he should be thus honoured! so sinful a creature, that he should be thus favoured! Man has sovereign dominion over the inferior creatures, under God, and is appointed their lord. This refers to Christ. In He 2:6-8, the apostle, to prove the s...
Read full commentary →Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse describes humanity's divine mandate: dominion over creation. "Madest him to have dominion" (תַּמְשִׁילֵהוּ/tamshilehu) means cause to rule, govern, exercise authority. "The works of thy hands" (מַעֲשֵׂי יָדֶיךָ/ma'asei yadekha) emphasizes creation as God's craftsmanship. "Put all things under his feet" (שַׁתָּה תַחַת-רַגְלָיו/shattah tachat-raglav) uses ancient Near Eastern imagery of c...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) The poet continues, in a rapturous strain, to complete the cycle of animated nature, and to describe man’s kingship over all other created beings. For St. Paul’s expansion of the thought, and elevation of it into yet a higher sphere, see 1Corinthians 15:27.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 29
Job 29:1-25.
1. Job pauses for a reply. None being made, he proceeds to illustrate the mysteriousness of God's dealings, as set forth (Job 28:1-28) by his own case.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-9**
We are to consider the heavens, that man thus may be directed to set his affections on things above. What is man, so mean a creature, that he should be thus honoured! so sinful a creature, that he should be thus favoured! Man has sovereign dominion over the inferior creatures, under God, and is appointed their lord. This refers to Christ. In He 2:6-8, the apostle, to prove the s...
Read full commentary →All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; All: Heb. Flocks and oxen all of them
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KJV Study Commentary
This verse continues the recitation of humanity's dominion over creation from verse 6. The specific mention of domestic animals (sheep and oxen) and wild animals (beasts of the field) reflects the Genesis mandate where humanity was given rule over all creatures. The Hebrew 'aleph' (oxen) and 'tson' (sheep) represent humanity's agricultural dominion. This dominion was damaged by the Fall but ultima...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. preserved me--**from calamity.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-9**
We are to consider the heavens, that man thus may be directed to set his affections on things above. What is man, so mean a creature, that he should be thus honoured! so sinful a creature, that he should be thus favoured! Man has sovereign dominion over the inferior creatures, under God, and is appointed their lord. This refers to Christ. In He 2:6-8, the apostle, to prove the s...
Read full commentary →The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
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KJV Study Commentary
The dominion extends to sky and sea creatures, completing the triad (land, air, water) from Genesis 1. 'Fowl of the air' and 'fish of the sea' with 'whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas' encompasses all creation realms. This comprehensive authority reflects the imago Dei - humanity as God's image-bearers exercises delegated rule. Yet only Christ perfectly fulfills this role, having all...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **And whatsoever passeth.**—This is more poetical than to render “the fish of the sea who pass,” &c.
**Paths of the seas.**—Comp. Homer’s ὑγρὰ κέλευθα*. *The repetition of the first thought of the poem, binding’ the contents together as in a wreath, is the one touch of art it displays.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. candle--**when His favor shone on me (see on Job 18:6 and Psa 18:28).
**darkness--**By His safeguard I passed secure through dangers. Perhaps alluding to the lights carried before caravans in nightly travels through deserts [Noyes].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-9**
We are to consider the heavens, that man thus may be directed to set his affections on things above. What is man, so mean a creature, that he should be thus honoured! so sinful a creature, that he should be thus favoured! Man has sovereign dominion over the inferior creatures, under God, and is appointed their lord. This refers to Christ. In He 2:6-8, the apostle, to prove the s...
Read full commentary →O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!</strong> This verse perfectly mirrors verse 1, creating an <em>inclusio</em>—a literary bracket enclosing the psalm's contents. Having meditated on God's cosmic glory (verses 1-3) and human dignity (verses 4-8), David returns to his opening exclamation of wonder. The repetition isn't mere redundancy but rhetorical emphasis: conte...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. youth--**literally, "autumn"; the time of the ripe fruits of my prosperity. Applied to youth, as the Orientalists began their year with autumn, the most temperate season in the East.
**secret--**when the intimate friendship of God rested on my tent (Pr 3:32; Psa 31:20; Ge 18:17; Joh 15:15). The Hebrew often means a divan for deliberation.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-9**
We are to consider the heavens, that man thus may be directed to set his affections on things above. What is man, so mean a creature, that he should be thus honoured! so sinful a creature, that he should be thus favoured! Man has sovereign dominion over the inferior creatures, under God, and is appointed their lord. This refers to Christ. In He 2:6-8, the apostle, to prove the s...
Read full commentary →