sovereign · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
excellent
אַדִּ֣יר'a.Dir
H117
wide or (generally) large · adjective, masculine singular absolute
name
שִׁ֭מְךָShim.kha
H8034
an appellation · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
earth
הָאָ֑רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
set
תְּנָ֥הte.Nah
H5414
to give · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
glory
ה֝וֹדְךָ֗hod.kha
H1935
grandeur (i.e. an imposing form and appearance) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
heavens
הַשָּׁמָֽיִםha.sha.Ma.yim
H8064
the sky (as aloft · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 8:9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
Psalms 113:2-4 Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.
Psalms 57:5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.
Psalms 148:13 Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.
Exodus 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Psalms 57:10-11 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.
Exodus 34:5-7 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
Habakkuk 3:3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 8:1-2
The psalmist here sets himself to give to God the glory due to his name. Dr. Hammond grounds a conjecture upon the title of this psalm concerning the occasion of penning it. It is said to be upon Gittith, which is generally taken for the tune, or musical instrument, with which this psalm was to be sung; but he renders it upon the Gittite, that is, Goliath the Gittite, whom he vanquished and slew (1 Sa. 17); that enemy was stilled by him who was, in comparison, but a babe and a suckling. The conjecture would be probable enough but that we find two other psalms with the same title, Ps. 81 and Psa 84:1. Two things David here admires: -
I. How plainly God displays his glory himself, Psa 8:1. He…
O Lord our God,.... Jehovah, the one God, who is Lord of all angels and men, and in an especial manner Lord and King of saints;
how excellent is thy name in all the earth! by the "name" of God is not meant any particular name of his, by which he is called; but either himself, his nature and perfections; or rather that by which he is made known, and particularly his Gospel; see John 17:6; this is excellent in its nature, it being good news, and glad tidings of good things, which display the love, grace, mercy, and kindness of God to men, as well as his wisdom, power, truth, and faithfulness; and in the subject matter of it, Christ and his righteousness, and life and salvation by him, the spi…
Psalm 8:1
1. O Jehovah, our Lord! [127] How wonderful is thy name in all the earth, to set [128] thy glory above the heavens!
Whether gtyt, Gittith, signifies a musical instrument or some particular tune, or the beginning of some famous and well-known song, I do not take upon me to determine. Those who think that the psalm is so called because it was composed in the city of Gath, give a strained and far-fetched explanation of the matter. Of the other three opinions, of which I have spoken, it is not of much importance which is adopted. The principal thing to be attended to is what the psalm itself contains, and what is the design of it. David, it is true, sets before his eyes the wonderful…
The Church Fathers
The church says, "O Lord, our Lord." For after the recognition of Christ when one is freed from the slavery of idolatry, one begins to call on God and the Lord. Always the whole earth truly is full of the marvelous creations, the works of God. And even more marvelous the name of that One, namely, Christ, has been made wonderful among all the nations and foreign peoples through faith in him.
The Majesty, or as holy David calls it, the Glory, is manifested among the creatures that it has produced and governs. These are the back parts of God, which he leaves behind him, as tokens of himself like the shadows and reflection of the sun in the water, which show the sun to our weak eyes, because we cannot look at the sun himself, for by his unmixed light he is too strong for our power of perception.
"How wonderful your name." Through this name, in fact, death was dissolved, demons imprisoned in bonds, heaven opened, gates of paradise thrown wide, the Spirit sent down, slaves made free, enemies become sons, strangers become heirs, human beings become angels. Why speak of angels? God became man, and man became God; heaven accepted the nature from earth, earth accepted the one seated on the cherubim along with the angelic host. The wall was removed, the partition dissolved, what were separate were united, darkness was banished, light shone, death was swallowed up.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Astronomy — The Hebrews were devout students of the wonders of the starry firmanent (Amos 5:8; Ps. 19). In the Book of Job, which is the oldest book of the Bible in all probability, the constellations are…
Gittith — A stringed instrument of music. This word is found in the titles of Ps. 8, 81, 84. In these places the LXX. render the word by “on the wine-fats.” The Targum explains by “on the harp which David…
Music, Instrumental — Among instruments of music used by the Hebrews a principal place is given to stringed instruments. These were, (1.) The kinnor, the “harp.” (2.) The nebel, “a skin bottle,” rendered “psaltery.” (3.)…
Musical Instruments Of The Hebrews — (There has been great obscurity as to the instruments of music in use among the Hebrews, but the discoveries on the monuments of Egypt and Assyria have thrown much light upon the form and nature of…
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
Glory Of God, The · Described as: Highly exalted — Described as: Highly exalted
Religion · NATURAL — NATURAL
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
(Heb.: 8:2-3) Here, for the first time, the subject speaking in the Psalm is not one individual, but a number of persons; and who should they be but the church of Jahve, which (as in Neh 10:30) can call Jahve its Lord (אדנינוּ, like אדני from אדנים plur. excellentiae, Ges. ֗108, 2); but knowing also at the same time that what it has become by grace it is called to be for the good of the whole earth? The שׁם of God is the impress (cognate Arabic wasm, a sign, Greek σῆμα) of His nature, which we see in His works of creation and His acts of salvation, a nature which can only be known from this visible and comprehensible representation (nomen = gnomen).
(Note: Cf. Oehler's art. Name in Herzog'…
Ps 8 Psalm 8 opens the second segment of Book One (Pss 8–14). The psalmist celebrates God’s creation and the dignity of the ideal human being (see Ps 1). Instead of the world of enemies, wicked people, and distorted justice that is presented in Pss 3–7, this psalm promotes an image of the world as God originally created it. A weary person can envision a place of dignity in God’s world.
8:1 The Lord (Hebrew Yahweh), the covenant God of Israel (Exod 3:15), also holds the title of Lord (Hebrew ’adonay), the king of the earth. • The word translated majestic (sometimes translated “mighty”) can describe kings (Ps 136:18), heroes (16:3), mountains (76:4), or waves breaking on the seashore (93:4).…
O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
Unable to express the glory of God, the Psalmist utters a note of exclamation. O Jehovah our Lord! We need not wonder at this, for no heart can measure, no tongue can utter, the half of the greatness of Jehovah. The whole creation is full of his glory and radiant with the excellency of his power; his goodness and his wisdom are manifested on every hand. The countless myriads of terrestrial beings, from man the head, to the creeping worm at the foot, are all supported and nourished by the Divine bounty. The solid fabric of the universe leans upon his eternal arm. Universally is he present,…
