Bible Strands
Psalms 8:5
You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God directly, answering his own rhetorical question of v. 4 ("What is man…?") with a declarative statement of what God has done for him.
The words — The Hebrew reads חסר מעט מֵאֱלֹהִים, "a little lacking from God," not "lower than the angels" as the BSB and LXX tradition render it; אֱלֹהִים (God) is the explicit comparison in the Masoretic text. תּעטרה (te'atere, "you crown") is a single vivid verb for the act of placing a crown, not a general bestowal of status.
The thread — Hebrews 2:7 quotes the verse and 2:9 applies it to Jesus, specifying that the "crowning" follows death. Genesis 1:26 supplies the ruling mandate that v. 6 of this psalm picks up immediately.
Why it lands — The verse holds two claims in one breath: the gap ("a little less") and the crown, with no reconciliation between them. It asks the reader to accept that human dignity is a gift from a specific Giver, not a default property of the species.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Cross-references
- Hebrews 2:7 You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor
- Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
- Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
- Philippians 2:7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness.
- Hebrews 2:16 For surely it is not the angels He helps, but the descendants of Abraham.
- Psalms 21:3 For You welcomed him with rich blessings; You placed on his head a crown of pure gold.
- Psalms 103:4 who redeems your life from the Pit and crowns you with loving devotion and compassion,
- Ephesians 1:21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
- Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
- 1 Peter 1:20 He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.