Psalm 8
Words: The Psalter of the United Presbyterian Church of North America, 1887 ed.
There are also Short Metre and Common Metre versions of this Psalm on this page
1 Lord, our Lord, o'er earth's vast frame,
How exalted is thy name!
Who hast set thy glory bright
Far above the heavens height.
2 From the mouth of children young,
From the infant's lisping tongue,
Matchless strength thou hast ordained,
Thus, thy vengeful foes restrained.
3 When thy heavens I survey,
Which thy fingers' work display,
When the moon and stars I see
Ordered all by thy decree:
4 What is man that in thy mind
He a constant place should find?
What the son of man that he
Should be visited by thee?
5 Thou his station didst ordain
Just below the angel train;
Glory thou hast o'er him shed,
And with honor crowned his head.
6 Thou hast given him command
O'er the creatures of thy hand;
And beneath his feet hast laid
All the works which thou hast made;
7 Flocks and cattle, every tribe,
Beasts that in the fields abide,
Birds that through the heavens roam,
Fish that make the sea their home;
8 Every living thing that strays
Through the ocean's secret ways.
Lord, our Lord, o'er earth's vast frame,
How exalted is thy name!
Metre:
8 6 4
"St. Cuthbert," John Bacchus Dykes, 1860
1 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent
In all the earth thy name,
Who hast thy glory set above
The starry frame.
2 From infants' and from sucklings' mouths
Is strength by thee ordained,
That so th' avenger may be quelled,
The foe restrained.
3 When I behold thy spacious heavens,
The work of thy own hand,
The moon and stars in order set
By thy command:
4 O what is man that thou shouldst him
In kind remembrance bear?
Or what the son of man that thou
For him shouldst care?
5 For thou a little lower hast
Him than the angels made;
With honor and with glory thou
Hast crowned his head.
6 Lord of thy works thou hast him made;
All under him must yield,
All sheep and oxen, yea, and beasts
Which roam the field.
7 Fowls of the air, fish of the sea,
All that pass through the same;
O Lord, our Lord, in all tile earth,
How great thy name.
1 How excellent in all the earth,
O Lord, our Lord, thy name!
Thou hast thy glory far advanced
Above the starry frame.
2 From mouths of babes and sucklings thou
O Lord, didst strength ordain,
Because of foes, that so thou mightst
Thy vengeful foes restrain.
3 When to the heavens I look up,
Which thy own fingers framed,
Unto the moon and to the stars,
Which were by thee ordained;
4 Then say I, What is man, that he
Remembered is by thee?
Or what the son of man, that thou
So kind to him shouldst be?
5 For thou a little lower hast
Him than the angels made,
A crown of matchless glory thou
Hast placed upon his head.
6 Appointed lord of all thy works,
Beneath him thou didst lay
All sheep and oxen, yea, and beasts
That in the fields do stray.
7 The fowls of air, and fish of sea,
All passing through the same.
How excellent in all the earth,
O Lord, our Lord, thy name!
