Chapter Overview
Summary
Psalm 8 is a meditation on the dignity of humanity under the canopy of divine-cosmic-greatness. It is one of the most NT-cited psalms — 8:2 ('from the mouths of infants') is quoted at Matthew 21:16 (children praising Jesus at the Temple); 8:4–6 ('what is man … you made him a little lower than the angels … you placed everything under his feet') is quoted at Hebrews 2:6–8, 1 Corinthians 15:27, Ephesians 1:22. The LXX 8:5 reads 'angels' where MT reads 'God' (elohim) — a crucial translational decision that Hebrews 2 follows.
Notable Variants
8:2 'from the mouths of infants and nursing babies' cited at Matt 21:16 as Jesus' proof-text; 8:5 'what is man that you are mindful of him' quoted at Heb 2:6–8 verbatim in the LXX's 'angels' form; 8:6 'a little lower than the angels' (LXX) vs. 'a little lower than God' (MT) — the single most important LXX/MT divergence in this psalm.
Structural Notes
LXX Psalm 8 has 10 verses matching MT. LXX 8:1 = superscription; English 8:1 = Hebrew/LXX 8:2 (same offset throughout).
For the director of music. According to the Gittith. A psalm of David.
Superscription 'according to the Gittith' tracks MT. Gittith — possibly 'a Gittite instrument' or 'winepress-song' — is an unexplained musical-technical term. The LXX transliterates variously.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth — You who have set Your splendor above the heavens!
Masoretic (WLC)
יְהוָה אֲדֹנֵינוּ מָה־אַדִּיר שִׁמְךָ בְּכָל־הָאָרֶץ
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth
Septuagint (LXX)
κύριε ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν ὡς θαυμαστὸν τὸ ὄνομά σου ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ
O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is your name in all the earth
'O Lord, our Lord' (kyrios ho kyrios hēmōn) — the double-kyrios opens and closes the psalm (v. 2 and v. 10), framing it as a divine-name praise.
The 'majestic / wonderful' (thaumastos in LXX, addir in MT) vocabulary is the wonder-of-God language that Revelation 15:3 ('great and amazing are your works, Lord God Almighty') echoes.
From the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have established strength because of Your adversaries, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
Masoretic (WLC)
מִפִּי עוֹלְלִים וְיֹנְקִים יִסַּדְתָּ עֹז
From the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have established strength
Septuagint (LXX)
ἐκ στόματος νηπίων καὶ θηλαζόντων κατηρτίσω αἶνον
Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have perfected praise
MATTHEW 21:16 CITATION. Jesus cites this verse at the Temple after the children shout 'Hosanna to the Son of David': "Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?" Matthew's ek stomatos nēpiōn kai thēlazontōn katērtisō ainon follows the LXX verbatim.
MAJOR LXX/MT DIVERGENCE. Hebrew 'oz ('strength') vs. LXX ainos ('praise'). The LXX translator either misread or interpretively-rendered the Hebrew. Matthew's citation requires the LXX reading: 'praise' fits the Temple-children scene, while 'strength' would not.
The 'infants praise' theme — divine strength/praise from the weakest — is one of the Hebrew Bible's clearest reversal-of-human-power theologies. Luke 10:21 ('you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children') carries the same theme.
When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars that You have set in place —
'The work of your fingers' tracks MT. Finger-imagery for the Creator (cf. Exod 8:19 'finger of God,' 31:18 tablets 'inscribed by the finger of God') is distinctly anthropomorphic-creative.
What is a human being that You remember him, a son of Adam that You attend to him?
Masoretic (WLC)
מָה־אֱנוֹשׁ כִּי־תִזְכְּרֶנּוּ וּבֶן־אָדָם כִּי תִפְקְדֶנּוּ
What is a human being that You remember him, a son of Adam that You attend to him?
Septuagint (LXX)
τί ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος ὅτι μιμνῄσκῃ αὐτοῦ ἢ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου ὅτι ἐπισκέπτῃ αὐτόν
What is man that you remember him, or a son of man that you visit him?
'SON OF MAN' QUESTION. Hebrew ben adam is rendered huios anthrōpou — the LXX vocabulary that supplies Jesus' self-designation 'the Son of Man.' The whole NT Son-of-Man Christology (Mark 2:28, 8:31, 14:62; Dan 7:13 LXX) has this LXX-Psalms-8 phrase as one of its vocabulary-roots.
Hebrews 2:6–8 cites this verse and the following three verbatim in their LXX form: 'What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you care for him?' Hebrews reads the 'son of man' Christologically — as the incarnate Christ who fulfills the psalm's human-vocation.
The 'remember' and 'visit' vocabulary (mimnēskē, episkeptē) carries covenantal-visitation freight. Luke 1:68, 78 ('he has visited his people,' epeskepsato) deploys episkeptomai for God's salvific-coming-to-his-people.
Yet You made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and honor.
Masoretic (WLC)
וַתְּחַסְּרֵהוּ מְּעַט מֵאֱלֹהִים וְכָבוֹד וְהָדָר תְּעַטְּרֵהוּ
Yet You made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and honor
Septuagint (LXX)
ἠλάττωσας αὐτὸν βραχύ τι παρ᾽ ἀγγέλους δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ ἐστεφάνωσας αὐτόν
You made him a little lower than the angels; with glory and honor you crowned him
THE KEY LXX/MT DIVERGENCE. Hebrew elohim (here rendered 'God') vs. LXX angelous ('angels'). The Hebrew term elohim can refer to God, gods, divine beings, or angelic figures. The LXX interpretively translates as angelous.
HEBREWS 2:7 CITATION verbatim follows LXX: 'you made him a little lower than the angels' (ēlattōsas auton brachy ti par' angelous). Hebrews 2:9 applies this Christologically: 'we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus … crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death.'
The LXX's 'angels' reading enables Hebrews' two-step Christology: Christ was lowered-below-angels (in the incarnation) and now crowned-with-glory-and-honor (in the resurrection-exaltation). The MT's 'lower than God' reading would require a different Christological framework.
This is one of the NT's clearest cases of doctrinal argumentation depending specifically on the LXX reading against the MT.
You give him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have placed everything under his feet:
Masoretic (WLC)
כֹּל שַׁתָּה תַחַת־רַגְלָיו
You have placed everything under his feet
Septuagint (LXX)
πάντα ὑπέταξας ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ
You subjected all things under his feet
THE 'ALL THINGS UNDER HIS FEET' THEOLOGY. The LXX's panta hypetaxas hypokatō tōn podōn autou is quoted at 1 Corinthians 15:27 ('he has put all things in subjection under his feet'), Ephesians 1:22 ('God put all things under his feet'), and Hebrews 2:8 ('putting everything in subjection under his feet'). Three NT authors independently cite this LXX verse.
Paul's Christological application: the dominion given to Adam (humanity's creation-vocation) is now fulfilled in Christ, who reigns 'until all his enemies are under his feet' (1 Cor 15:25).
The LXX's hypetaxas ('subject, put under') supplies the NT's hypotassō-vocabulary — the key verb for Christ's authority over all creation.
sheep and cattle, all of them, and also the wild animals of the field,
Domesticated-and-wild animals enumeration tracks MT. The list fulfills the Genesis 1:26–28 creation-mandate for human dominion.
the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea — whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
'Birds of the sky and fish of the sea' tracks MT. The three-realm creatures (land, sky, sea) complete the dominion-catalog.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!
Closing doxology — inclusio with v. 2 — tracks MT. The 'O LORD our Lord, how majestic' frame opens and closes the psalm, creating poetic closure.