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Out of the mouths of newborn babes and infants[a]
    you have brought forth praise
as a bulwark against your foes,
    to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look up at your heavens
    that have been formed by your fingers,
the moon and the stars
    that you set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
    the son of man[b] that you care for him?

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 8:3 Out of the mouths of newborn babes and infants: Jesus cites this passage with reference to the children who acclaim him on the day of his triumphal entry into Jerusalem (see Mt 21:16).
  2. Psalm 8:5 Son of man: a phrase used here and elsewhere as a synonym for human (see Ps 80:18; Ezek 2) and a sign of humility. Later it became a Messianic title in Daniel (7:13f) and Jewish apocryphal tradition (see 1 Enoch, 2 Esdras, and 2 Baruch). Eventually, Jesus made use of it to express his twofold destiny of suffering (see Mk 8:31; 9:13, 31; 10:33; 14:21) and of glory (see Mk 8:38; 12:36; 14:62).