Psalms 8:9
in Psalms 8O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
O Jehovah, our Lord, How excellent is thy name in all the earth!
KJV
O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
⋯
This verse in Psalms 8
Commentary
6 notes on this verseHere, like a good composer, the poet returns to his key-note, falling back, as it were, into his first state of wondering adoration. What he started with as a proposition in the first verse, he closes with as a well proven conclusion, with a sort of quod erat demonstrandum. O for grace to walk worthy of that excellent name which has been named upon us, and which we are pledged to magnify!
This site's exposition
Your name in all the earth
Verse 9 repeats verse 1 word for word, the name of the LORD majestic in all the earth. A psalm that opens and closes on one line is called an inclusio. The frame holds the glory above the heavens and the honor set on man.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Just as God is admirable for the eminence of his majesty, so he is shown to be admirable from his clemency; and therefore he concludes with wonder: "Lord, our Lord," etc. Yet it should be known that this Psalm is circular, because it has the …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! The psalm ends with the same words with which it begins; which shows that the sense of this, with which the psalmist was affected, continued with him, and doubtless increased, after such a confirmation of it, by the instances he was led to take notice of. See Gill on Psa 8:1.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
O Lord our Lord - The psalmist concludes as he began. Jehovah, our prop and support! his name is excellent in all the earth. The name of Jesus is celebrated in almost every part of the habitable globe; for his Gospel has been preached, or is in the progress of being preached, through the whole world. Bibles and missionaries are now carrying his name, and proclaiming his fame, to the utmost nations of the earth. The whole of this Psalm, and the seventh and eighth verses in particular, have been the subject of much spiritualization in ancient and modern times. I shall give two examples: one from the pious Bishop Horne; the other from the ancient Latino - Scotico - English Psalter, mentioned before. That of Bisnop Horne, on the Psa 8:7 and Psa 8:8, is as follows: “Adam, upon his creation, was invested with sovereign dominion over the creatures, in words of the same import with these, Gen 1:28, which are therefore here used, and the creatures particularized, to inform us that what the first Adam lost by transgression, the second Adam gained by obedience. That glory which was set above the heavens could not but be over all things on the earth; and accordingly we hear our Lord saying, after his resurrection, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and earth,’Mat 28:18. Nor is it a speculation unpleasing or unprofitable to consider that he who rules over the material world is Lord also of the intellectual or spiritual creation represented thereby. “The souls of the faithful, lowly, and harmless, are the sheep of his pasture; those who like oxen, are strong to labor in the Church, and who by expounding the word of life tread out the corn for the nourishment of the people, own him for their kind and beneficent Master. Nay, tempers fierce and untractable as the wild beasts of the desert, are yet subject to his will. […]
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
O Lord our Lord, how excellent ... - Repeating the sentiment with which the psalm opens, as now fully illustrated, or as its propriety is now seen. The intermediate thoughts are simply an illustration of this; and now we see what occupied the attention of the psalmist when, in Psa 8:1, he gave utterance to what seems there to be a somewhat abrupt sentiment. We now, at the close of the psalm, see clearly its beauty and truthfulness.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
O Lord, our Sovereign Lord, How Excellent is Thy Name in all the earth! – He returns once more to praise when he has finished the recital of the loving kindnesses which He (God) shews towards man, and the power He has given him over all; and because, though he is small and of no account in comparison with the great creatures on high, he is their equal in understanding.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֲדֹנֵ֑ינוּ | ʾadoneinu | lord<s> our | H113 → | 333 times |
| מָֽה־ | mah- | how! | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אַדִּ֥יר | ʾadir | majestic | H117 → | 27 times |
| שִׁ֝מְךָ֗ | shimkha | [is] name your | H8034 → | 864 times |
| בְּכָל־ | bekhol | in all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָאָֽרֶץ׃ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
יְהוָ֥הO Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֲדֹנֵ֑ינוּlord<s> our
ʾadoneinuH113 →333 times
מָֽה־how!
mah-H4100 →752 times
אַדִּ֥ירmajestic
ʾadirH117 →27 times
שִׁ֝מְךָ֗[is] name your
shimkhaH8034 →864 times
בְּכָל־in all
bekholH3605 →5413 times
הָאָֽרֶץ׃the earth
haaretzH776 →2504 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 8:1O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens.
it leads to
- Exodus 15:11
Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 113:2–4
Blessed be the name of the LORD both now and forevermore.
- Psalms 57:5
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; may Your glory cover all the earth.
- Psalms 148:13
Let them praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted; His splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
- Psalms 57:10–11
For Your loving devotion reaches to the heavens, and Your faithfulness to the clouds.
- Exodus 15:11
Through
Job 11:7Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
it leads to
- Romans 11:33
O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Romans 11:33
Through
Psalms 104:24How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 10:12
The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
- Psalms 40:5
Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us— none can compare to You— if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I…
- Jeremiah 10:12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.