Psalm 8

 Words: The Psalter of the United Presbyterian Church of North America, 1887 ed.

There are also Short Metre  and Common Metre versions of this Psalm on this page

Other metres
   1  Lord, our Lord, o'er earth's vast frame,
      How exalted is thy name!
      Who hast set thy glory bright
      Far above the heavens height.
   2  From the mouth of children young,
      From the infant's lisping tongue,
      Matchless strength thou hast ordained,
      Thus, thy vengeful foes restrained.
   3  When thy heavens I survey,
      Which thy fingers' work display,
      When the moon and stars I see
      Ordered all by thy decree:
   4  What is man that in thy mind
      He a constant place should find?
      What the son of man that he
      Should be visited by thee?
   5  Thou his station didst ordain
      Just below the angel train;
      Glory thou hast o'er him shed,
      And with honor crowned his head.
   6  Thou hast given him command
      O'er the creatures of thy hand;
      And beneath his feet hast laid
      All the works which thou hast made;
   7  Flocks and cattle, every tribe,
      Beasts that in the fields abide,
      Birds that through the heavens roam,
      Fish that make the sea their home;
   8  Every living thing that strays
      Through the ocean's secret ways.
      Lord, our Lord, o'er earth's vast frame,
      How exalted is thy name!

Metre: 8 6 4  
  "St. Cuthbert,"  John Bacchus Dykes, 1860

   1  O Lord, our Lord, how excellent
         In all the earth thy name,
      Who hast thy glory set above
      The starry frame.
   2  From infants' and from sucklings' mouths
         Is strength by thee ordained,
      That so th' avenger may be quelled,
      The foe restrained.
   3  When I behold thy spacious heavens,
         The work of thy own hand,
      The moon and stars in order set
      By thy command:
   4  O what is man that thou shouldst him
         In kind remembrance bear?
      Or what the son of man that thou
      For him shouldst care?
   5  For thou a little lower hast
         Him than the angels made;
      With honor and with glory thou
      Hast crowned his head.
   6  Lord of thy works thou hast him made;
         All under him must yield,
      All sheep and oxen, yea, and beasts
      Which roam the field.
   7  Fowls of the air, fish of the sea,
         All that pass through the same;
      O Lord, our Lord, in all tile earth,
      How great thy name.

Common Metre Tunes  

   1  How excellent in all the earth,
         O Lord, our Lord, thy name!
      Thou hast thy glory far advanced
         Above the starry frame.
   2  From mouths of babes and sucklings thou
         O Lord, didst strength ordain,
      Because of foes, that so thou mightst
         Thy vengeful foes restrain.
   3  When to the heavens I look up,
         Which thy own fingers framed,
      Unto the moon and to the stars,
         Which were by thee ordained;
   4  Then say I, What is man, that he
         Remembered is by thee?
      Or what the son of man, that thou
         So kind to him shouldst be?
   5  For thou a little lower hast
         Him than the angels made,
      A crown of matchless glory thou
         Hast placed upon his head.
   6  Appointed lord of all thy works,
         Beneath him thou didst lay
      All sheep and oxen, yea, and beasts
         That in the fields do stray.
   7  The fowls of air, and fish of sea,
         All passing through the same.
      How excellent in all the earth,
         O Lord, our Lord, thy name!


Page Copyright 2001, Music for the Church of God
e-mail us at: webmaster@cgmusic.com
Page last modified on: 07/29/2004