Question on Psalm 8:5?

[Pressing-On]

Reading Psalms 8:4-9 in the KJV, but noticed that in others versions the word “angels” is replaced with “God”.

Psalm 8:5 “For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.” (King James Version)

Psalms 8:5 “Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.” (NLT)

d 8:5a Or Yet you made them only a little lower than the angels; Hebrew reads Yet you made him [i.e., man] a little lower than Elohim.

Although, it appears the word for angels is “mê·’ĕ·lō·hîm

Question: What does adding “me” before “Elohim” mean? Is it significant?

Brown Driver Briggs defines this passage using either angels and/or God:
b. divine ones, superhuman beings including God and angels Psalm 8:5

Therefore, I can see how not all the translations line up the same. I feel that the Pulpit Commentary has a good explanation, unless adding the “me” before “Elohim” changes the meaning.

Psalm 8:5
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Verse 5. - For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels; rather, thou hast made him but a little lower than God (אלהים). There is no place in the Old Testament where Elohim means "angels;" and, though the LXX. so translate in the present passage, and the rendering has passed from them into the New Testament (Hebrews 2:7), it cannot be regarded as critically correct. The psalmist, in considering how man has been favoured by God, goes back in thought to his creation, and remembers the words of Genesis 1:26, 27, "Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him" (compare the still stronger expression in Psalm 82:6, "I have said, Ye are gods"). And hast crowned him with glory and honour; i.e. "and, by so doing, by giving him a nature but a little short of the Divine, hast put on him a crown of glory such as thou hast given to no other creature." There is a point of view from which the nature of man transcends that of angels, since

(1) it is a direct transcript of the Divine (Genesis 1:27); and

(2) it is the nature which the Son of God assumed (Hebrews 2:16).

Any comments?

[1ofthechosen]

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

Reading Psalms 8:4-9 in the KJV, but noticed that in others versions the word “angels” is replaced with “God”.






Although, it appears the word for angels is “mê·’ĕ·lō·hîm

Question: What does adding “me” before “Elohim” mean? Is it significant?

Brown Driver Briggs defines this passage using either angels and/or God:
b. divine ones, superhuman beings including God and angels Psalm 8:5

Therefore, I can see how not all the translations line up the same. I feel that the Pulpit Commentary has a good explanation, unless adding the “me” before “Elohim” changes the meaning.


Any comments?

Where are you getting me before the Elohim from? I looked at my Bible app it says plainly Elohim. Thats a mistranslation lower than the angels. The common Hebrew word used for angel in the OT is "mal'âk". It's saying what is shown in Psalm 82, but specifically verse 6 "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." People stray away from that teaching, "for their is life and death in the power of your tongue." We are made in the image and the likeness of God Almighty, but we are made a little lower.

Here's a screenshot of what my Bible app says it is.

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by 1ofthechosen

Where are you getting me before the Elohim from? I looked at my Bible app it says plainly Elohim. Thats a mistranslation lower than the angels. The common Hebrew word used for angel in the OT is "mal'âk". It's saying what is shown in Psalm 82, but specifically verse 6 "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." People stray away from that teaching, "for their is life and death in the power of your tongue." We are made in the image and the likeness of God Almighty, but we are made a little lower.

Here's a screenshot of what my Bible app says it is.

､Interlinear at BibleHub:

http://biblehub.com/interlinear/psalms/8-5.htm

430 [e]
mê·’ĕ·lō·hîm;
מֵאֱלֹהִ֑ים
than the angels

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by 1ofthechosen

Where are you getting me before the Elohim from? I looked at my Bible app it says plainly Elohim. Thats a mistranslation lower than the angels. The common Hebrew word used for angel in the OT is "mal'âk". It's saying what is shown in Psalm 82, but specifically verse 6 "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." People stray away from that teaching, "for their is life and death in the power of your tongue." We are made in the image and the likeness of God Almighty, but we are made a little lower.

Right. He got us as close as we could be like Him, but not quite. That is just so personal for each one of us.

[1ofthechosen]

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

Right. He got us as close as we could be like Him, but not quite. That is just so personal for each one of us.

In one of the videos I have on my YouTube page I can't remember which one right now Marvin D Treece the Greek scholar says this is a mistranslation. I looked even with the me Elohim its the same word (with what I can compile from my web search anyway!) I'm sure someone else has a greater answer.

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by 1ofthechosen

I'm sure someone else has a greater answer.

Yes, that would be your pastor.

[votivesoul]

The "me" is simply the particle that translates to "than", from the Hebrew preposition min.

See: http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Gra...ition_min.html

Scroll down to the heading "The Comparative Use of Min"

[votivesoul]

The Septuagint reads:

ἠλάττωσας αὐτὸν βραχύ τι παρ᾿ ἀγγέλους, δόξῃ καὶ τιμῇ ἐστεφάνωσας αὐτόν·

The emboldened text above is par aggelos, whence the term "angels".

Most importantly, the quotation and use of Psalm 8:5 in Hebrews 2:7 uses παρ αγγελους, or par aggelos, a clear quotation from the Septuagint. This then is the Apostolic interpretation of the text in Psalm 8:5.

[Praxeas]

The LXX has angels

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by votivesoul

The "me" is simply the particle that translates to "than", from the Hebrew preposition min.

See: http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Gra...ition_min.html

Scroll down to the heading "The Comparative Use of Min"

Thanks for the link.

As my obligations have increased, I apologize for posting and not being readily available to respond each time.