New English Translation
Psalms 8:5
5and make them a little less than the heavenly beings? You grant mankind honor and majesty;
Psalms 8:5 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
- New International Version (NIV)You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
Context of Psalms 8:5
3When I look up at the heavens, which your fingers made, and see the moon and the stars, which you set in place, 4Of what importance is the human race, that you should notice them? Of what importance is mankind, that you should pay attention to them, and make them a little less than the heavenly beings? You grant mankind honor and majesty; 6you appoint them to rule over your creation; you have placed everything under their authority, 7including all the sheep and cattle, as well as the wild animals,
Read all of Psalms 8Psalms 8:5 word by word
וַתְּחַסְּרֵ֣הוּ מְּ֭עַט מֵאֱלֹהִ֑ים וְכָב֖וֹד וְהָדָ֣ר תְּעַטְּרֵֽהוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Psalms 8:5
- Psalms 103:20Praise the Lord, you angels of his, you powerful warriors who carry out his decrees and obey his orders!
- Genesis 1:26Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.”
- Genesis 2:7The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
- 2 Samuel 14:29Then Absalom sent a message to Joab asking him to send him to the king, but Joab was not willing to come to him. So he sent a second message to him, but he still was not willing to come.
- Job 4:18If God puts no trust in his servants and attributes folly to his angels,
- Philippians 2:7but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature.
- Hebrews 2:7You made him lower than the angels for a little while. You crowned him with glory and honor.
- Hebrews 2:16For surely his concern is not for angels, but he is concerned for Abraham’s descendants.
- Psalms 21:3For you bring him rich blessings; you place a golden crown on his head.
- Psalms 45:1My heart is stirred by a beautiful song. I say, “I have composed this special song for the king; my tongue is as skilled as the stylus of an experienced scribe.”
- John 13:31When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him.
- Ephesians 1:21far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
- Philippians 2:9As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,
- Hebrews 2:9but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone.
- 1 Peter 1:20He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times for your sake.
Commentaries on Psalms 8:5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels - The original is certainly very emphatic: מאלהים מעט ותחסרחו 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 Hebrews 2:6; (note), etc., which I need not repeat here.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5For 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…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 3-9Verses 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 sovereign dominion of Christ, shows he is that Man, that Son of man…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 5You made him a little lower than the angels: Humans bear God’s image. The Lord has given humans dignity and tasked them to rule (Genesis 1:26–27). Hebrews 2:6–8 applies these words to Jesus Christ, the ideal human who fully realized God’s purposes.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 5-85-8. 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 (Psa 21:5; 45:3). The position assigned man is that described (Ge 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…Read the comment
Topics related to Psalms 8:5
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Psalms 8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- The Treasury of David
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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