Psalm 8:5-8

Context

Psalm 8 is a hymn of praise whose superscription reads "A Psalm of David." Verses 1 and 9 frame the poem with the same confession: "O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" In verses 3-4 the psalmist looks at the heavens, the moon, and the stars that God has made and asks why God is mindful of human beings, who are so small by comparison. Verses 5-8 answer this question, declaring that God has crowned humanity "with glory and honour" and given it dominion over oxen and sheep, the beasts of the field, the birds, and the fish. The order in which the animals are listed resembles that of the creation account in Genesis 1:26-28.

Because the Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as verse 1, this passage corresponds to verses 6-9 in the Hebrew text.

Interpretation

• Creation order and human dignity: Many Old Testament commentators hold that the passage celebrates the status of humanity as a whole. The expression "hast crowned him" evokes the installation of a king. Accordingly, these interpreters read the verses alongside the Genesis teaching on the image of God, understanding human beings to have been created as royal figures who rule the world on God's behalf.
• Christ-centered reading: Hebrews 2:6-9 quotes the psalm and then states, "But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus." 1 Corinthians 15:27 and Ephesians 1:22 likewise apply the language of putting "all things under his feet" to Christ. This tradition holds that the dominion humanity could not fully exercise because of the Fall is fulfilled by Christ through his Incarnation, suffering, and exaltation.
• Stewardship reading: This view understands "madest him to have dominion" not as a right to rule at will but as a responsibility to care for the world entrusted to humanity. This reading is closely tied to the concept of stewardship.

Many interpreters regard these three readings not as mutually exclusive but as overlapping.

Debates and Issues

• "Angels" or "God"?: The Hebrew word in verse 5 is elohim, which can be rendered "God," "gods," or "heavenly beings." The Greek Septuagint translated it as "angels," and Hebrews follows the Septuagint in its quotation. Bible translations differ on this point: the Korean Revised Version reads "than the angels," while the New Korean Revised Version and the New Korean Standard Version read "than God."
• Dominion and ecology: In 1967 the historian Lynn White criticized the Christian worldview, grounded in the Genesis mandate of dominion, as one of the roots of the ecological crisis. Since then, debate has continued over whether the "dominion" of this passage and of Genesis 1 should be understood as exploitation or as care. Within the church, the interpretation of dominion as a responsibility of care has been widely advanced.
• Prophecy or application?: Interpreters differ over whether the psalm should be regarded as a prophecy pointing to the Messiah from the outset or as a poem about humanity in general that the New Testament authors applied to Christ.

Related Passages

• Genesis 2:15
• Genesis 9:1-7
• Hebrews 2:6-9
• 1 Corinthians 15:28
• Ephesians 1:22