Psalm 8–9

Yahweh’s Glory in Creation

8For the music director, on the Gittith.^a A psalm of David.^b

¹Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth,

who put your splendor above the heavens.

²From the mouth of children and infants you have founded^c strength

on account of your enemies,

to silence the enemy and the avenger.

³When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars which you set in place—

⁴what is a human being that you think of him?

and a child of humankind that you care for him?

⁵And you made him a little lower than heavenly beings,^d

and with glory and with majesty you crowned him.

⁶You make him over the works of your hands;

all things you have placed under his feet:

⁷sheep and cattle, all of them,

and also the wild animals of the field,

⁸the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea,

everything that passes along the paths of seas.

⁹Yahweh, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all of the earth!

Praise for Yahweh’s Justice

9For the music director, according to Muth-labben.^a A psalm of David.^b

¹I will thank Yahweh with all my heart.

I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

²I will be glad and rejoice in you.

I will sing the praise of your name, O Most High.

³When my enemies turn back,

they will stumble and perish because of your presence.

⁴For you have maintained my just cause;

you have sat on the throne judging correctly.

⁵You have rebuked the nations;

you have destroyed the wicked.

Their name you have blotted out

forever and ever.

⁶The enemies are destroyed in ruins forever,

and you have uprooted their cities;

their very memory has perished.

⁷But Yahweh sits enthroned forever.

He has established his throne for judgment.

⁸And he will judge the world with righteousness.

He will judge the peoples with equity.

⁹And Yahweh will be a stronghold for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of distress.

¹⁰And those who know your name will trust in you,

for you do not forsake those who seek you, O Yahweh.

¹¹Sing praises to Yahweh who sits enthroned^c in Zion.

Tell his deeds among the peoples,

¹²for he who avenges bloodshed^d remembers them.

He does not forget the distressed cry of the afflicted.

¹³Be gracious to me, O Yahweh.

See my suffering from those who hate me,

you who lift me up from the gates of death,

¹⁴so that I may tell of all your praises.

In the gates of the daughter of Zion

let me rejoice in your salvation.

¹⁵The nations have fallen in the pit that they made;

their foot is caught in the net that they hid.

¹⁶Yahweh has made himself known;

he has executed judgment.

The wicked is snared by the work of his hands. Higgaion^e Selah

¹⁷The wicked shall turn back to Sheol,

all the nations forgetting God,

¹⁸for the needy shall not always be forgotten;

the hope of the poor shall never perish.

¹⁹Rise up, O Yahweh, let not humans^e prevail;

let the nations be judged before you.

²⁰O Yahweh, put them in fear.

Let the nations know they are merely human. Selah