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Psalms

About this book
Psalm 8

1 For the music director, according to the gittith style; a psalm of David. 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!

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalms 8:4 and 3 Enoch 5:10

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Psalm 8, the psalmist marvels that God cares for humanity. In 3 Enoch, angels now skeptically ask this same question to object to God's presence living among people who worship idols.

Passages

Psalms 8:4

Hebrew Bible
1 For the music director, according to the gittith style; a psalm of David. 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?
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

3 Enoch 5:10

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Hebrew Book of Enoch
10 In that time the ministering angels brought charges (against them) before the Holy One, blessed be He, saying before him: "Master of the World! What have you to do with the children of men? As it is written (Ps. viii. 4) 'What is man (Enosh) that you are mindful of him?' 'Mah Adam' is not written here, but 'Mah Enosh', for he (Enosh) is the head of the idol worshippers. 11 Why have you left the highest of the high heavens, the abode of your glorious Name, and the high and exalted Throne in 'Araboth Raqia' in the highest and have gone and dwell with the children of men who worship idols and equal you to the idols?
400–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 3 Enoch

References

“... Several late works also use Ps. 8 to emphasize the insignificance of human beings. In 3 Enoch, a work probably from the fifth or sixth century AD, the ministering angels bring a complaint to God: “Lord of the Universe, what business have you with men, as it is written, ‘What is man [ʾĕnôš] that you should spare a thought for him?’” (3 En. 5:10 [cf. Gen. Rab. 8:6]). Given Hebrews’ use of the psalm to make a transition to the topic of incarnation, it is interesting that this passage goes on to say, “Why did you leave the heaven of heavens above, the abode of your glory, the high and exalted throne which is in the height of Arabot, and come and lodge with men who worship idols?” (3 En. 5:11). Similar to 3 Enoch’s use of the psalm, b. Šabb. 88b says that upon Moses’ ascension to heaven, angels questioned why a human being has been allowed to be among them. In b. Sanh. 38b angels, using the form of the psalm’s question, ask God about why he would want to create people in the first place. Later, when the flood generation does not turn out well, the angels, in effect, say to the Lord, “We told you so!” Also speaking of Moses, but with an emphasis on the dignity of this man, b. Ned. 38a and b. Roš Haš. 21b take the psalm’s statement “you have made him a little lower than God” to refer to Moses as having all but one of the “fifty gates of understanding.” ...”
George H. Guthrie, "Hebrews" in Beale, G. K., and D. A. Carson, editors. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), PDF2148.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Psalms 8:4 and 3 Enoch 5:10

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