---
title: Psalms 8:5
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-8-5/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-8-5.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Psalms 8:5
testament: OT
section: Poetry
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Psalms 8:5

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> You made him a little lower than the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "You made him a little lower than godlike ones, And you crowned him with glory and splendor"

## JW Usage

JWs cite Psalm 8 in defence of the "all things have natural exceptions" argument. The verse begins a Hebrews 2 chain — but on the JW reading, "all things subject to mankind" obviously excludes God himself. By analogy, when Colossians 1:16 says all things were created through Jesus, Jesus himself is the natural exception: created first, then everything else through him.

## Protestant Usage

Hebrews 2 quotes Psalm 8:5-6 about mankind, but verses 8-9 shift the application: "we do not yet see all things subject to him… but we see Jesus." The author takes the Psalm's "made a little lower than the angels" and applies it specifically to Jesus, who was lowered "for a little while" then crowned with glory. Then Hebrews 2:10 uses the Greek prepositions di' hon ("for whom") and di' hou ("through whom") of God — the same pair Colossians 1:16 uses of Jesus. Identical Creator language for Father and Son. The "exceptions" defence backfires: the very passage cited to limit "all things" ends up applying the divine prepositional formula to Jesus.

## NWT Issue

The NWT renders elohim here as "godlike ones" rather than "angels" (Hebrews 2:7 LXX) or "God" (an alternative MT reading preserved in the ESV margin). The rendering keeps the verse from reinforcing Hebrews 2's Christological framing — if the Psalm read "lower than God," the Hebrews 2 application to Jesus carries a subtle deity overtone the NWT prefers to muffle. The footnote offers "angels" as alternative, but "godlike ones" in the main text is unique to the NWT among standard English Bibles.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [All Things Exist For and Through Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/hebrews2-all-things-subject.md) — Hebrews 2:5-10 [Deity of Christ]