Psalm 8:3

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;

Psalm 8:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 8:3

When I consider thy heavens
Where God dwells, and which he has made; the airy and starry heavens, which are to be seen with the bodily eye; and the heaven of heavens, which is to be beheld and considered by faith:

the work of thy fingers;
being curiously wrought by his power, and garnished by his Spirit: for the finger of God is the Spirit of God; see ( Matthew 12:28 ) ; compared with ( Luke 11:20 ) ;

the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained,
or "prepared" ^F8, for various uses to the earth, and the inhabitants of it. The sun is not mentioned, because it cannot be looked upon, as the moon and the stars may, nor be seen when they are. And it is generally thought that David composed this psalm in the night, When these celestial bodies were in view; and, it may be, while he was keeping his father's sheep, since, in the enumeration of the creatures subject to man, sheep are mentioned first, as being in view, ( Psalms 8:7 ) . The heavenly bodies are very glorious creatures, and are worthy of the consideration and contemplation of man, and even of a saint; whereby he may be led to observe the wisdom, power, goodness, and greatness of God.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 (tnnwk) "praeparasti", Pagninus, Montanus; "parasti", Musculus, Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis.

Psalm 8:3 In-Context

1 O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;

4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.