A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM VIII.
_God’s glory is magnified by his works, and by his love to man._ To the chief Musician upon Gittith. A Psalm of David. O LORD our Lord, how excellent _is_ thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies; that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers; the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What _is_ man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands: thou hast put all _things_ under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, _and whatsoever_ passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
This is a prophecy concerning Christ,—concerning his passion, his resurrection, and his dominion over all creatures; and it is thus that the apostle cites it, Ephes. i. with reference to the kingdom of Christ: where he foretels, that the power and might of his kingdom will be invincible against all enemies, how violent soever they may be in their determination to wreak their vengeance:—that is, that he will be victoriously mighty against all the wise and the powerful of the world, and against all hypocrites and pharisaical saints:—that he will be invincible and victorious, I say, not by arms, nor by mighty forces of horse and foot, but by the word of his gospel; which shall be preached by “babes and sucklings,” (that is, by humble men, men who are weak and contemptible in the sight of the world,) and believed in by his church of poor, afflicted, crying, and complaining creatures:—that this word of the gospel, I repeat, preached and believed in by such poor creatures, shall nevertheless confound all the wisdom of the world, and break and crush under it all the strength of the world, and that no creature power whatever shall impede it in its work and course, but that it shall stand firmer than the heaven, or the sun, or the moon, and shall endure for evermore! This Psalm pertains to the First Commandment, where God declares that he will be our God: and also to the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, as I have before observed under Psalm II.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.