Psalm 8:3-5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
3 with the mouths of babes(A) and infants.[a]
You have established a bulwark against your foes,
to silence enemy and avenger.
4 When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and stars that you set in place—
5 [b]What is man that you are mindful of him,(B)
and a son of man that you care for him?(C)
Footnotes
- 8:3 With the mouths of babes and infants: the psalmist realizes that his attempts to praise such an awesome God are hopelessly inadequate and amount to little more than the sounds made by infants. Established a bulwark: an allusion to lost myth telling how God built a fortress for himself in the heavens in primordial times in his battle with the powers of chaos. This “bulwark” is the firmament. Enemy and avenger: probably cosmic enemies. The primeval powers of watery chaos are often personified in poetic texts (Ps 74:13–14; 89:11; Jb 9:13; 26:12–13; Is 51:9).
- 8:5 Man…a son of man: the emphasis is on the fragility and mortality of human beings to whom God has given great dignity.
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