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