Psalms 8 The Heading (verse 1 in the Hebrew Bible): TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN (CONDUCTOR), UPON GITHITH (a musical instrument?), A PSALM OF DAVID [Psalms 8:1] O LORD, OUR LORD, HOW EXCELLENT IS THY NAME IN ALL THE EARTH! WHO HAST SET THY GLORY ABOVE THE HEAVENS. [Psalms 8:2] OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABES AND SUCKLINGS HAST THOU ORDAINED STRENGTH  BECAUSE OF THINE ENEMIES, THAT THOU MIGHTEST STILL THE ENEMY AND THE AVENGER. Israelites should have children. The children should be brought up with Biblical values. All of us have done things in our lives that we regret and adoped attitudes in the past that we were later sorry about. Some things cannot be undone BUT one way of "stilling the storm", lessening the damage, and correcting the wrong is through the upbringing of children [Psalms 8:3] WHEN I CONSIDER THY HEAVENS, THE WORK OF THY FINGERS, THE MOON AND THE  STARS, WHICH THOU HAST ORDAINED; By studying Natural History and Science in general we can better appreciates the glories of the Almighty. [Psalms 8:4] WHAT IS MAN, THAT THOU ART MINDFUL OF HIM? AND THE SON OF MAN, THAT THOU   VISITEST HIM? [Psalms 8:5] FOR THOU HAST MADE HIM A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS, AND HAST CROWNED HIM  WITH GLORY AND HONOUR. [Psalms 8:6] THOU MADEST HIM TO HAVE DOMINION OVER THE WORKS OF THY HANDS; THOU HAST PUT ALL THINGS UNDER HIS FEET: [Psalms 8:7] ALL SHEEP AND OXEN, YEA, AND THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD; <<OXEN>> IN Hebrew the word used here is "Alufim" meaning high quality bulls. The usual word for "bull" in Hebrew is "SHOR" and for a young bull "AEGEL".  There is no word for "ox" in Hebrew. An Ox is a castrated bull. The Hebrews did not castrate animals. This is what the King James says: <<YE SHALL NOT OFFER UNTO THE LORD THAT WHICH IS BRUISED, OR CRUSHED, OR BROKEN, OR CUT; NEITHER SHALL YE MAKE ANY OFFERING THEREOF IN YOUR LAND>> [Leviticus 22:24]. This is how it should be translated: << THAT WHICH IS BRUISED, OR CRUSHED, OR BROKEN, OR CUT YE SHALL NOT OFFER UNTO THE LORD And In Your Land You Shall Do Such Things>>  From this passage it is understood that we are forbidden to castrate animals in the Land of Israel. The Hebrews did not keep "oxen". They kept "bulls" and "prize bulls" and "bull calves".   I do not know why the English translators keeps inserting the word "ox" all over the Bible. [Psalms 8:8] THE FOWL OF THE AIR, AND THE FISH OF THE SEA, AND WHATSOEVER PASSETH THROUGH  THE PATHS OF THE SEAS. The migratory intercontinental pathways of birds and those of fish are interconnected. See the article below (originally published in our magazine, "Brit-Am" no. 4(9)) [Psalms 8:9] O LORD OUR LORD, HOW EXCELLENT IS THY NAME IN ALL THE EARTH!  THE BIRDS AND FISH IN THE SEA <<Rabbi Yerachmiel Dushinsky is a Rabbi in Cape Town, South Africa. He relates that every year the fishermen of Cape Town would go out in the fishing season to gather in millions of fish that always were to be found at one spot in the Ocean. It happened that one year they went out to the spot and found that the fish had disappeared. At the same time birdwatchers reported a drastic change in the route of birds migrating northwards. It became apparent that man-made air pollution had forced the birds to change their route to a cleaner airway. The fishermen investigated and to their surprise discovered that the fish also had changed their path in accordance to that of the birds! What was the connection between the birds and fish? Millions of birds emit excretions while flying. This organic waste fertilizes vegetation at the bottom of the Sea underneath the birds' path of migration. This vegetation serves as food for the fish. Rabbi Dushinsky says that he was told all this by a Professor of Life Sciences in Cape Town. Rabbi Dushinsky told the Professor that this had already all been spoken of in the Book of Psalms! Psalm 8 says, "What is man that thou art mindfulof him..Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels. - even so we pollute it. "to have dominion over the works of Thy hands" -over fish and fowls. "The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, passing through the path of the seas." Both the fowls and the fish together move from one place to another and change their path of migration. "O LORD our Sovereign, how excellent is thy name in all the earth"/ The Professor was so impressed from the Biblical description that on the spot he decided to use the verse "The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, passing through the path of the seas" as the motto for his faculty. >> Translated  from "Shabat beShabato", no.809, `17- 6-00 PSALMS CONTENTS HOME