When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
Parallel translations
- WEB When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;
- KJV When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
- BSB When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place—
- NASB ¶When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have set in place;
- NLT When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers— the moon and the stars you set in place—
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Gazing at the moon and stars, David sees the heavens as the work of God's fingers. Creation's vast order testifies to its deliberate Maker.
Overview
David contemplates the night sky, ordained and set in place by God as easily as a craftsman's fingers shape a work. The grandeur of the cosmos prepares the question that follows about humanity's smallness before such a Creator. Scripture consistently presents the heavens as a witness to God's wisdom and power (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:20).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Gen 1:1In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
- Ps 33:6By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made; all their army by the breath of his mouth.
- Ps 104:19He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun knows when to set.
- Ps 89:11The heavens are yours. The earth also is yours; the world and its fullness. You have founded them.
- Ps 111:2Yahweh’s works are great, pondered by all those who delight in them.
- Rom 1:20For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.
- Luke 11:20But if I by God’s finger cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come to you.
- Exod 8:19Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is God’s finger:” and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.
- Ps 136:7–9To him who made the great lights; for his loving kindness endures forever:
- Deut 4:19and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the army of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Yahweh your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.
- Job 22:12“Isn’t God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are!
- Gen 1:16–18God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.
- Exod 31:18He gave to Moses, when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets, written with God’s finger.
- Job 25:3Can his armies be counted? On whom does his light not arise?
- Job 25:5Behold, even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in his sight;
- Ps 19:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. The heavens declare the glory of God. The expanse shows his handiwork.
- Ps 148:3Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you shining stars!
- Job 36:24“Remember that you magnify his work, whereof men have sung.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 8:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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