Those of us who speak English are blessed with hundreds of Bible translations in our language. Most of the time, these various Bible versions say basically the same thing: they differ slightly in wording, but not actually in substance. That said, a while back I noticed a significant difference between the major Bible versions at Psalm 8:5. Compare the following three versions, which represent the three major ways that this text has been translated.

• KJV—For thou has made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. (So also NKJV, NIV, & LSB¹)
• NASB—Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty. (So also ASV, NLT, Amplified, CSB, & NRSVue²)
• ESV—Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. (So also NET)

When there are differences between Bible versions, it is sometimes the result of the underlying Hebrew or Greek manuscripts on which a version is based.³ In this case, however, the difference in translation does not arise from a variant in the underlying Hebrew text: אלהים / elohim is the Hebrew word being translated here, variously as “angels,” “God,” or “heavenly beings.”

As I’ve already said, most differences in Bible translation are minor; from my perspective, however, this is a serious difference. In what follows I will explain why I believe “angels” is the best rendering of elohim in Psalm 8:5 and point out some of the problems with translating this Hebrew term as “God” here.

Examining Elohim

The Hebrew word elohim often refers to the one true God in scripture, and thus is frequently translated into English as “God.” But by no means does the word אלהים / elohim refer only to the true God. This Hebrew noun actually has a range of meanings.

Sometimes elohim refers to false gods. 1 Kings 18:24 uses the term elohim in reference to Baal and company, and Daniel 1:2 uses it to describe the god of Babylon. In 1 Sam 5:7 the Philistines call the idol Dagon “our god” (אלהינו). In Judges 11:24, in reference to the Amorites, Chemosh is called “your god” (אלהיך). Elohim is used three times in 1 Kings 11:33 to refer to Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom. The psalmist used the word elohim when he said, “All the gods of the nations (כל אלהי העמים) are idols” in Psalm 96:5.

Other times elohim doesn’t refer to God/gods at all, but refers to a human ruler or authority. Exodus 22:28 uses elohim to describe “the rulers of thy people” as “gods.” When a servant would choose to serve his master for life, the master was supposed to bring the servant “to the judges” (אל האלהים), Exodus 21:6, see also 22:8-9. 1 Sam 2:25 likewise uses elohim to say “If one man sin against another, the judge (אלהים) shall judge him.”

At least once in scripture, it seems that elohim could also be used for the disembodied spirit of a human person in / from the underworld. When the witch at Endor called up the spirit of Samuel, she described what she saw as “I saw gods (אלהים) ascending out of the earth” (1 Sam 28:13 KJV).

Still other times—and I argue that Psalm 8 is one of those times—elohim refers to angels and/or other un-fallen heavenly or spiritual creatures. Elsewhere the Bible calls these angels/spiritual beings “sons of God” (e.g., Job 1:6, 38:7). More on this shortly.

At any rate, it should be clear that elohim does not always refer to the one true God. It can refer to human judges as well as the false gods of other nations (Deut 32:17). We cannot assume that Psalm 8:5 means “a little lower than God” simply because the word elohim is present.

Only a little lower…?

In the previous section, I showed that “God” is not the only meaning of elohim, and so “a little lower than the elohim” does not automatically mean “a little lower than God.” It is possible for elohim to mean other things besides “God” in Psalm 8:5. In the following section, I will make a positive case for why I believe “angels” or possibly “heavenly beings” is the best translation here. In this section, though, I want to explain why I think “God” is a bad translation of elohim in Psalm 8:5.

Simply put, humans are not “a little lower than God.” This is just not true. To borrow a quote from Augustine, “The two are indeed very far removed from each other, as the lowest from the Highest, as the changeable from the Unchangeable, the created from the Creator, the human nature from the Divine.”⁴ The difference between humanity and God is incalculable.

The prophet Isaiah once described God as the one who “measured out the waters in the hollow of his hand, or carefully measured the sky, or carefully weighed the soil of the earth, or weighed the mountains in a balance, or the hills on scales” (40:12 NET). To God, “the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales. He lifts the coastlands as if they were dust. Not even Lebanon could supply enough firewood for a sacrifice; its wild animals would not provide enough burnt offerings. All the nations are insignificant before him; they are regarded as absolutely nothing.” (15-17).

If “heaven is his throne and earth is his footstool” (Isa 66:1 // Acts 7:49), how can we claim to be “a little lower”? If whole nations are like the dust on a scale—it doesn’t change the weight at all—what do we mean that we are only “a little lower”? We are insignificant. We are nothing. We are less than nothing, compared to God’s grandeur.

Indeed, the whole point of Psalm 8 is to emphasize the insignificance of man. “The heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain” God (1 Kings 8:27); God is even bigger than them. When the psalmist looks at these heavens, he asks, “What is man that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man that thou visitest him?” (Psalm 8:4 KJV). If humanity really was only a little lower than God, God might well take notice of us. We would be almost an equal. But this is the exact opposite of the psalmist’s point. Yes, humans are exalted to have dominion over all of the lesser beasts—but the difference between us and a trout is infinitely smaller than the difference between us and God.

We are not “a little lower than God”—we are incomprehensibly lower than God. We are even, I hasten to point out, lower than angels. Psalm 103:20 describes angels as “excelling in strength.” Jesus said that the “angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven” (Matt 18:10 KJV). Humans, on the other hand, are incapable of seeing God’s face: “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Exodus 33:20 KJV). There are things that angels can do and we cannot, because in the hierarchy of creation we are lower than them.

I repeat again, it is simply inaccurate to say that humans are “a little lower than God.” This is a poor translation, because it is untrue.

How the author of hebrews read Psalm 8

Having explained why I think “a little lower than God” is a poor translation theologically, in no way made necessary linguistically by the presence of elohim in the Hebrew text, let me now explain why I believe “a little lower than the angels” is the appropriate rendering of Psalm 8:5.

As a Christian, I believe that the Old Testament should be understood in light of the New. There are many times when a NT author will exegete or interpret a passage of the OT; because the NT is scripture, “given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim 3:16), moments when the NT exegetes the OT constitute instances of inspired interpretation. Since the same God is the author of both testaments, these instances of the NT interpreting the OT are essentially God explaining himself.

Hebrews 2 is just one such place; the author of Hebrews⁵ uses Psalm 8 to explain Jesus’s incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension:

“But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste deathfor every man.” (Heb 2:6-9)

We should notice two things about this text.

Firstly, when the author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 8, he does not say “a little lower than God”—he says “a little lower than the angels,” using the Greek word ἄγγελος. On the one hand, the author of Hebrews may be working directly from the Hebrew text of Psalm 8 here, translating it into Greek as he goes. If this is the case, then the author of Hebrews translated elohim with the word “angels” while under divine inspiration. On the other hand, the use of “angels” here may be due to the author’s use of the LXX (the Greek translation of the OT), which likewise uses “angels.” But this only pushes the point back a step: the translator of the LXX believed that “angels” was the correct translation for elohim in Psalm 8:5, and God allowed the inspired author of Hebrews to use this translation without an issue.

Secondly, and more importantly, the phrase “lower than the angels” from Psalm 8:5 is not just an incidental detail in Hebrews 2; rather, this phrase is crucial for the point that the author of Hebrews is trying to make. In 2:2-3, the author of Hebrews compares the NT with the OT: in the OT, if someone disobeyed a word from God sent by an angel,⁶ that person would “received a just retribution” (ESV); in the NT, disobedience is all the more serious because the word was from the Lord himself, not merely an angel. Consequently, the NT is that much more serious.

Furthermore, in 2:5, the author of Hebrews reminds us that “the world to come” (e.g., the new heaven and new earth) has not been put under the authority of angels, but under the authority of Christ. To prove this, the author of Hebrews quotes and provides exegesis for Psalm 8. The author of Hebrews takes Psalm 8 as a prophecy about Jesus (Heb 2:9)—note the phrase “son of man” in Ps 8:4 / Heb 2:6, which Jesus repeatedly uses to describe himself in the gospels.

Jesus, says the author of Hebrews, is the ruler of the “world to come” because God “has put all things under his feet” (Ps 8:6 / Heb 2:8). But even though this is the case, this spiritual reality seemingly does not match what we can observe in the physical: if Jesus is Lord of all, why is there so much sin and suffering in the world? The author of Hebrews notes this apparent contradiction: “Now in putting everything in subjection to him [Christ], he [God] left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him” (Heb 2:8 ESV).

But then the author of Hebrews carries the point forward, building his case on the progression of Psalm 8. If we don’t see “all things under Jesus’s feet” yet, what do we see? “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Heb 2:9 KJV). Jesus is the Son of God—yea rather, the Lord God himself—and as such is vastly superior to the angels. As Hebrews 1:6 points out, Jesus is the one whom the angels worship.⁷ Nevertheless, the one who is higher than the angels became lower than the angels so that he could suffer death on our behalf.

The author of Hebrews reads Psalm 8 christologically: he maps the events of Jesus’s salvific work onto the progression of ideas in Psalm 8. In Psalm 8 the “son of man” a) is made lower than the angels, b) is crowned with glory and honor, & c) is given dominion over everything, such that “all things are under his feet.”

In perfect accord with this prophecy, Jesus a) became lower than the angels by dying on the cross, b) was crowned with glory and honor by resurrecting from the dead, & c) was given dominion by ascending to his throne in heaven, such that “all things are under his feet.” I won’t take the time to labor the point now, but Psalm 110, Daniel 7, Matthew 28, & 1 Corinthians 15 are all relevant here.

Conclusion

As I have shown, elohim does not always refer to the true God—and so we cannot translate Psalm 8:5 as “a little lower than God” simply because the Hebrew text uses the word elohim. This term can and does refer to other spiritual entities besides God.

When we look at what the Bible says elsewhere, we see that humans in fact are not “a little lower than God”—because we are much lower than God. And so, “a little lower than God” does not work as a translation for this phrase. Thus, the phrase “a little lower than the elohim” in Psalm 8:5 must be talking about other spiritual creatures.

When the divinely-inspired author of Hebrews cited Psalm 8:5, he quoted the verse as saying “a little lower than the angels.” And, in his christological interpretation of Psalm 8, angels are not a marginal detail but are crucial to his point. Since Hebrews 2 is an inspired exegesis of Psalm 8, Hebrews should govern how we understand Psalm 8:5 as Christians.

At this point, I can hear some astute reader offering the counterargument: “Well, Hebrew has a perfectly good word for “angels,” namely מלאך / malak. If Psalm 8 really was talking about angels, why did he say elohim? If he meant angels, why didn’t he just say malak.” This is a valid point, and one which I am happy to grant. This is why I am not critical of the ESV / NET translating elohim as “heavenly beings.”

That said, I still believe that Hebrews 2 “pulls rank”, as it were. Thus, when we read “a little lower than the elohim” in Psalm 8:5, we ought to follow the example of the author of Hebrews and understand this phrase to mean “a little lower than the angels.”

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1. The LXX, Syriac Peshitta, Targums, the JPS Tanak, & the Spanish Reina-Valera version also read “angels;” the main text of the NIV & LSB read “angels,” but contain “God” as an alternate translation in a footnote. ↩︎
2. The Geneva Bible, Latin Vulgate, Louis Segond’s French version, & Luther’s German version also read “God;” the main text of the NRSVue reads “God,” but contains “divine beings” or “angels” as alternate translations in a footnote. A few lesser-used versions take a similar route, translating אלהים / elohim as “divine” (ISV) or “Godhead” (YLT). ↩︎
3. For example, in 1 John 3:1 the ESV says “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” In the KJV, the phrase “and so we are” is absent, because the Greek texts used to translate the KJV lacked these words. ↩︎
4. Sermon 2 (52), ch. 19. ↩︎
5. Whom I take to be Luke; but that is a different post for a different time. ↩︎
6. e.g., one of the commandments in the law, Gal 3:19. ↩︎
7. Here the author of Hebrews is quoting Psalm 97:7—another example, ironically, of the NT rendering elohim in the Hebrew text with “angels” in Greek. ↩︎

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