Bible / Psalms
Psalm 8
World English Bible, Catholic edition, in plain modern English. About the translations
Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision, the traditional Catholic English Bible. About the translations
1 LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens!
2 From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength, because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained,
4 what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?
5 For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and cattle, yes, and the animals of the field,
8 the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
9 LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
1 Unto the end, for the presses: a psalm for David.
2 O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth! For thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens.
3 Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise, because of thy enemies, that thou mayst destroy the enemy and the avenger.
4 For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars which thou hast founded.
5 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
6 Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour:
7 And hast set him over the works of thy hands.
8 Thou hast subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen: moreover, the beasts also of the fields.
9 The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, that pass through the paths of the sea.
10 O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth!
This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church
Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text. The Catechism uses modern verse numbers and psalm numbers (one higher than Douay-Rheims for most psalms), so these are listed by chapter.
Read the Catechism
- Psalm 8:3 in modern BiblesCCC 559
Read the Catechism and Fathers
- CCC 559 “How will Jerusalem welcome her Messiah? Although Jesus had always refused popular attempts to make him king, he chooses the time and…”
“And again, when He says, I shall behold the heavens, the works of Thy fingers,”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter CXIV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
“… had no great intelligence, and for this reason were unwilling that the king should come, and who said to Him, "Hearest thou what these say?" did the Lord reply, "Have ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast Thou perfected praise?”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1