Psalm 8 and Genesis 1 describe humanity in a way that sounds almost identical, and that is not an accident. The psalmist takes the creation story and turns it into worship, which makes humans look both tiny and glorious.
In Genesis 1:26, God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (ESV). Psalm 8:4-6 then asks why God cares for humans, and it says He crowned them with glory and made them rulers. This post looks at how we know the psalm draws on Genesis, and at what the psalmist changes.
How Psalm 8 and Genesis 1 are connected
Start with the animals. Schnittjer lines up Genesis 1:26 with Psalm 8:6-8 and finds the same creatures in both. He admits that “the verbal parallels are somewhat limited,” but he argues that similar contextual details suggest a relationship.¹
The strongest detail is the moon, because Genesis 1:16-18 gives special attention to the two greater lights in the sky. Steinmann points out that “the text avoids the Hebrew words for sun and moon, since those words could signify the pagan deities associated with these light sources.”² Psalm 8:3 does name the moon. Schnittjer says the moon and the psalmist’s rhetorical question “presume allusion to something known.” In his words, “these details suggest Gen 1 as donor context and Ps 8 as receptor.”³ In plain terms, Genesis 1 is the passage being drawn from, and Psalm 8 is the passage doing the drawing.
Kidner agrees. He says verse 5 “would seem to allude to the image of God, mentioned in Genesis 1:26 which underlies our verses 6–8.”⁴
What Genesis 1 says about being human
Two ideas from Genesis 1 matter most for the psalm. The first is the image of God. Waltke explains that the expression “is used uniquely with reference to human beings and so sets them apart from the other creatures.” The other creatures are created “according to their kinds” (Gen. 1:21, 24, 25).⁵
The second idea is dominion. Sailhamer says that “only humanity has been given dominion in God’s creation.” That dominion covers the living creatures of the sky, sea, and land.⁶
Who is elohim in Psalm 8:5?
One word needs attention before we go on. Genesis 1:26 says “Let us make man,” and scholars disagree about who the “us” includes. Schnittjer finds it “entirely reasonable that the deity addresses the celestial court.”⁷ That debate matters for Psalm 8:5, which says humans are made a little lower than elohim. The Greek translation of the Old Testament takes that word as “angels,” and Kidner notes that Hebrews 2:7 and 9 follow it.⁸
Longman, however, says the Hebrew word is more naturally translated “God,” and that “here it is much more likely that ‘God’ is intended.”⁹ I follow Longman, though the question comes back in Hebrews 2:7.
Where the psalmist reshapes the story
Genesis tells humans to rule, and Longman notes that the verb there is rādâ. Psalm 8:6 uses a different verb, māšal, but the idea is the same. Longman says humanity “functions as ‘rulers on earth’, subject to the heavenly King.”¹⁰
The psalm also changes the tone. Schnittjer observes that the psalmist repeats “what?” and “how!” at the beginning, middle, and end of the psalm. He says this shows “the very unlikelihood of human lordship over creation glorifies the name of Yahweh.”¹¹ Kidner adds that the question “what is man” can carry many shades. In Psalm 144:3 it mocks the arrogance of the rebel. In Job 7:17 it is a sufferer’s plea for respite, but in Psalm 8 “it has no tinge of pessimism; only astonishment.”¹²
That astonishment is the point. Humans are small, yet they carry glory from God. Longman calls it “a derivative glory, analogous to the way in which the moon reflects the light of the sun.”¹³ In other words, the smallness the psalmist sees is the very reason he gives God glory.
What this means for how we read
Psalm 8:4-6 does not repeat Genesis 1. It amplifies and reworks the creation language so that it holds both humanity’s insignificance and its exaltation. That shows how Scripture often works, since later texts do not just quote earlier ones but actively reinterpret them. Here, the psalm turns the account of creation into worship.
If we read Psalm 8 on its own, we miss that depth, so read it with Genesis 1 open beside it. This is one more reason why Old Testament context matters, and the Old Testament is hard to understand without some help.
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Questions to think through
- When have you felt small next to everything God has made?
- How does it change Psalm 8 to know the psalmist is drawing on Genesis 1?
- What does it mean to you that human glory is a reflection of God’s glory?
Psalm 8 and Genesis 1 belong together. The psalmist takes the creation account he knew and turns it into praise, and the astonishment he feels is the reason he worships.
If you want to keep going deeper in Scripture, you can check out the Bible study here.
Notes
- Gary Edward Schnittjer, Old Testament Use of Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Guide (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2021), 482.
- Andrew E. Steinmann, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. David G. Firth, vol. 1, The Tyndale Commentary Series (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2019), 54–55.
- Schnittjer, Old Testament Use of Old Testament, 482.
- Derek Kidner, Psalms 1–72: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 15, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 84.
- Bruce K. Waltke and Cathi J. Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2001), EBSCOhost, 65.
- John H. Sailhamer, Genesis, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2008), EBSCOhost, 70.
- Schnittjer, Old Testament Use of Old Testament, 482.
- Kidner, Psalms 1–72, 84.
- Tremper Longman III, Psalms: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. David G. Firth, vol. 15–16, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2014), 81.
- Longman, Psalms, 81.
- Schnittjer, Old Testament Use of Old Testament, 483.
- Kidner, Psalms 1–72, 84.
- Longman, Psalms, 81.
Bibliography
Kidner, Derek. Psalms 1–72: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 15. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973.
Longman, Tremper, III. Psalms: An Introduction and Commentary. Edited by David G. Firth. Vol. 15–16. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2014.
Sailhamer, John H. Genesis. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2008. EBSCOhost.
Schnittjer, Gary Edward. Old Testament Use of Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Guide. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2021.
Steinmann, Andrew E. Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary. Edited by David G. Firth. Vol. 1. The Tyndale Commentary Series. London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2019.
Waltke, Bruce K., and Cathi J. Fredricks. Genesis: A Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2001. EBSCOhost.
