Psalm 8

The Song of Mortal Beings

1. O God, the beauty of your name fills all the earth,

so even from the lips of little ones, the innocent,

the suckling babes, your praise shall rise to overflow the heavens.

2. From there, the center of your household strong,

your enemies are stilled

and our avenger bound in chains and gone.

3.So when I lift my eyes to see you there,

I see the height of heaven itself,

a book of beauty your fingers wrote.

I see through veils of stars and space,

the canopy of sun and moon you set in place.

4. Then who are we to stand before all this and see?

Do you see us, and do you care?

5. Yes, we are mortal beings

set in this world,

below the splendor of transcendent space. 

6. You placed us here, vice-regents of your realm,

and gave the earth into our care.

7. You bid us cherish all this that’s ours,

all beasts and creatures of the wild.

8. The birds of air, the fish of sea, the plants,

and everything that lives and moves

are we to know and love.

9. We sing this song of praise to you;

your name beyond all this we know.

We sing first here so we can learn

to care at all.