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Psalm 8 · a question people ask

"A little lower than the angels" (8:5). Does the Hebrew say angels, or God?

In the text

The WEB has angels, both in the psalm and where Hebrews gives the line: "You made him a little lower than the angels" (Hebrews 2:7). The Hebrew word in the psalm is elohim (tap angels), the word the WEB gives as God in "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1), and as gods in "They left their gods there" (1 Chronicles 14:12). Brown-Driver-Briggs gives it several senses, among them "divine ones, superhuman beings including God and angels". The psalm says no more about which it means here. Hebrews gives the line with angels, and goes on, "But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus" (Hebrews 2:9). These notes say what each text has, and go no further.

The verses

“For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor.”
Psalm 8:5 · World English Bible
“You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor.”
Hebrews 2:7 · World English Bible
“But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone.”
Hebrews 2:9 · World English Bible
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 8

Psalm 8: How majestic is your name

The psalm's last line is its first line, word for word (8:1, 8:9). The LORD's glory "above the heavens" (8:1) is hod, and the honor a mortal is crowned with (8:5) is hadar: Psalm 104:1 says the two together of the LORD, and Psalm 45:3 to a king. And Hebrews quotes the psalm, then says, "we see … Jesus" (Hebrews 2:9).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions