Psalms 8 (KJV)

Chapter Text

8:1 O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

8:2 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.

8:3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

8:4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

8:5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

8:6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

8:7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

8:8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

8:9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "all things", "sheep", "lord", "excellent", "name", "earth", "hast", and "glory". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "all things" and "sheep", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The local KJV text gives this verse as the immediate unit, so "all things" and "sheep" carries the first interpretive weight. In The LORD as Shepherd, the local focus is trust, covenant mercy, guidance, and worship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "all things" and "sheep" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.