The Eighth Psalm, in Triplicate

Psalm 8, NIRV ¹

For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David.

¹ Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in the whole earth!

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
² You have made sure that children
    and infants praise you.
Their praise is a wall
    that stops the talk of your enemies.

³ I think about the heavens.
    I think about what your fingers have created.
I think about the moon and stars
    that you have set in place.
⁴ What are human beings that you think about them?
    What is a son of man that you take care of him?
⁵ You have made them a little lower than the angels.
    You placed on them a crown of glory and honor.

⁶ You made human beings rule over everything your hands created.
    You put everything under their control.
⁷ They rule over all flocks and herds
    and over the wild animals.
⁸ They rule over the birds in the sky
    and over the fish in the ocean.
    They rule over everything that swims in the oceans.

⁹ Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in the whole earth!

*******

Psalm 8, NET²

O LORD, our Lord,

            how magnificent is your reputation throughout the earth!

            You reveal your majesty in the heavens above!

²           From the mouths of children and nursing babies

            you have ordained praise on account of your adversaries,

            so that you might put an end to the vindictive enemy.

³           When I look up at the heavens, which your fingers made,

            and see the moon and the stars, which you set in place,

⁴           Of what importance is the human race, that you should notice them?

            Of what importance is mankind, that you should pay attention to them?

⁵           You made them a little less than the heavenly beings.

            You crowned mankind with honor and majesty;

⁶           you appoint them to rule over your creation;

            you have placed everything under their authority,

⁷           including all the sheep and cattle,

            as well as the wild animals,

⁸           the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,

            and everything that moves through the currents of the seas. 

⁹           O LORD, our Lord,

            how magnificent is your reputation throughout the earth!

*******

To the Chief Muscian: Psalm 8³

1. O God, who put

            the music in the water,

O You, who paint

            the colors in the light,

Who, by the genius of

            olfaction pique the beauty

            of rose petals,

Author of succulence,

Designer of the palate for

            delight,

2. O You, who forge the sinuous

            muscle of wild blizzards,

Who tilt and shift

            the jewels that so shimmer

            in the bright darkness

            of your silver-velvet night,

3. And You, who speak the

            nothing into being,

Who turn and mold

            oblivion into 16

            myriad orbits of swift

            light,

Father of sense and

            Mother of the senses

Who to this universe of

                        miracle—

            and by the kiss of

                        brooding Spirit—

Bequeath us right:

To You, the prayers of babes

            rise up in incense flight:

We thank You,

And we praise You, God

            of might.

¹ Bible texts credited to NIrV are from the Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version. Copyright  © 1985, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

² Scripture quotations credited to NET are from the New English Translation Bible, copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved

³ By Lael Caesar