Sunday 4 October27th Sunday in Ordinary TimeLiturgical colour: green
Stone & Incense
JourneysCurious, or no faithEvangelical, Pentecostal or ProtestantOrthodox, or other apostolic ChristianFallen-away CatholicBecoming CatholicGrowing CatholicAnother faith LibraryThe CaseVoices of the revivalFind a parishAboutSources & methodSupport the site

Bible / Psalms

Psalms 8

Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (1749–1752), the traditional Catholic English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate. If you read a modern Bible, this is the same Scripture in older English; some names are spelled differently (Cesarea for Caesarea, Apocalypse for Revelation). About this translation

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.

  1. Psalm 8:1 in modern BiblesCCC 300 CCC 2566
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 300 “God is infinitely greater than all his works: "You have set your glory above the heavens." Indeed, God's "greatness is unsearchable". But…”
    • CCC 2566 “Man is in search of God. In the act of creation, God calls every being from nothingness into existence. "Crowned with glory…”
  2. 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

  3. Psalm 8:5 in modern BiblesCCC 2566 CCC 2809
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2566 “Man is in search of God. In the act of creation, God calls every being from nothingness into existence. "Crowned with glory…”
    • CCC 2809 “The holiness of God is the inaccessible center of his eternal mystery. What is revealed of it in creation and history, Scripture…”
PreviousPsalms 7NextPsalms 9

A modern English Catholic translation will be added once its publisher grants permission.