Click on player below to hear a sample portion of this Psalm MP3:

The Psalm singing on this MP3 (digital download) covers Psalm 8:3-9, as sung to the tune Gainsborough from the 1650 Scottish Metrical Psalter.

3    When I look up unto the heav'ns,

          which thine own fingers fram'd,

      Unto the moon, and to the stars,

          which were by thee ordain'd;

4    Then say I, What is man, that he

          remember'd is by thee?

      Or what the son of man, that thou

          so kind to him should'st be?

5    For thou a little lower hast

          him than the angels made;

      With glory and with dignity

          thou crowned hast his head.

6    Of thy hands' works thou mad'st him lord,

          all under's feet didst lay;

7    All sheep and oxen, yea, and beasts

          that in the field do stray;

8    Fowls of the air, fish of the sea,

          all that pass through the same.

9    How excellent in all the earth,

          Lord, our Lord, is thy name!

John Brown of Haddington's notes on Psalm 8 follow:

This psalm contains a pleasant, but solemn meditation upon the glory, the greatness, and the grace of God. Let me here observe, (1.) How illustrious and widespread are all his glory and renown, ver. 1, 3, 9. (2.) By how weak and insignificant instruments, he manifests and spreads his superlative fame, ver. 2. (3.) Behold his marvellous condescension and bounty to mankind, but chiefly to the man Christ, in uniting his human nature to his divine person, and in giving him all power in heaven and earth, for the benefit of his chosen people, ver. 4-8.

May this Jesus, this name of God in him, be the enthroned inhabitant, the everlasting wonder, and the superlative darling of my heart. Let me, with the babes of Jerusalem, Matt. 21, pour forth my hosannas to him that cometh in the name of the Lord to save me ­ hosannas in the highest. Let all the works of nature lead, and excite me to admire their Creator's kindness towards men ­ towards sinful and insignificant me.

From: THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE (The Scottish Metrical Psalter of 1650) by the Westminster Assembly, Covenanted Church of Scotland General Assembly and Francis Rouse (1646-1650), With Notes Exhibiting the Connection, Explaining the Sense, and for Directing and Animating the Devotion On Each Psalm by John Brown Of Haddington (from the 1844 edition of this Psalter published by Robert Carter, New York).

This Psalm MP3 digital download comes from the album Scottish Metrical Psalms, Volume 2 available on CD or as an album MP3 digital download.