Psalms Chapter 8 verse 4 Holy Bible
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?
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What is man, that you keep him in mind? the son of man, that you take him into account?
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What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
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What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
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When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers; the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
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What is man, that you think of him? The son of man, that you care for him?
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What `is' man that Thou rememberest him? The son of man that Thou inspectest him?
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Psalms 8 : 4 Bible Verse Songs
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - What is man, that thou art mindful of him? In comparison with the lofty heavens, the radiant moon, and the hosts of sparkling stars, man seems to the psalmist wholly unworthy of God's attention. He is not, like Job, impatient of God's constant observation (Job 7:17-20), but simply filled with wonder at his marvellous condescension (comp. Psalm 144:3). And the son of man, that thou visitest him? The "son of man" here is a mere variant for "man" in the preceding hemistich. The clause merely emphasizes the general idea.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) Man . . . son of man . . .--The first, possibly, with suggestion of frailty; the second to his life derived from human ancestry. The answer to this question must always touch the two poles, of human frailty on the one hand, and the glory of human destiny on the other. "O the grandeur and the littleness, the excellence and the corruption, the majesty and the meanness, of man."--Pascal.The insignificance of man compared to the stars is a common theme of poetry; but how different the feeling of the Hebrew from that of the modern poet, who regrets the culture by which he had been"Brought to understandA sad astrology, the boundless planThat makes you tyrants in your iron skies,Innumerable, pitiless, passionless eyes,Cold fires, yet with power to burn and brandHis nothingness into man."--TENNYSON: Maud.And yet, again, how far removed from the other pole of modern feeling, which draws inanimate nature into close sympathy with human joy or sorrow, expressed in the following words:--"When I have gazed into these stars, have they not looked down upon me as if with pity from their serene spaces, like eyes glistening with heavenly tears over the little lot of man?"--Carlyle.