Psalm 8

A David Psalm

¹ God, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name.
² Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
      toddlers shout the songs
   That drown out enemy talk,
      and silence atheist babble.
^3-4 I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
      your handmade sky-jewelry,
   Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
      Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
   Why do you bother with us?
      Why take a second look our way?
^5-8 Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods,
      bright with Eden’s dawn light.
   You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
      repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
   Made us lords of sheep and cattle,
      even animals out in the wild,
   Birds flying and fish swimming,
      whales singing in the ocean deeps.
⁹ God, brilliant Lord,
      your name echoes around the world.

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

I love this psalm.  I love it even more in this translation.

“…toddlers shout the songs” about the Lord that drown out and silence the noise of unbelievers.  I spent the last two weeks listening to toddlers singing “Jesus Loves Me” with incredible gusto.  (Of course, Aidan also sang, ” I love chocolate, the Bible tells me so”- a sentiment with which I heartily agree .)

I love the macro- micro imagining- down in Chincoteague, the night lights (except the light house on Assateague) are minimal and on a clear night in late summer, you can see the stars clearly- almost like a laser light show.  They do look like “sky jewelry” .  Then on to the micro image of self- are we God’s earth ornaments in contrast to that sky jewelry?  I think so, we just “narrowly missed being gods, bright with Eden’s dawn light”- this psalm is incredible in its use of imagery.

And so, “Brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world.”