The greatness of the human being is seen in the fact that God made him inferior only to elohim, a word whose precise meaning here is disputed. Translations and their supporters are as follows:

(1) God: the ancient Greek versions by Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion; Jerome, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation.
(2) “Angels”: Septuagint (quoted in Heb 2.7), Syriac, Targum, Vulgate, King James Version, New American Bible, Zürcher Bibel, Bible en français courant, New Jerusalem Bible footnote.
(3) “The gods”: Dahood. New International Version has “the heavenly beings.”
(4) “A god”: New English Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy. Moffatt and New Jerusalem Bible have “little less than divine”; “almost divine” also represents this meaning.

The word elohim (the plural of el, “god”) can mean different things, depending on the context; its broadest sense is that of divine beings as distinct from human beings, and it is most likely that it is used in this sense in this passage. So the preferred translation is “God” or, perhaps, “the divine beings.”

The verbal phrase translated made him little less is the causative of the verb “to lack,” followed by the adjective “little”: “you have caused him to be little less than….” Little less than God is not to be taken as rough equality with God, but viewed as higher than the rest of creation. In order to make clear the relation of less than and “inferior to,” it is sometimes necessary to indicate a complement of made; for example, “you made people to have a place only a little beneath you” or “you created people and gave them a place which is below only you.”

Glory and honor are, so to speak, the crown which marks the human creature’s exalted position as ruler of all other created beings. This figurative language may have to be recast in translation. Crown refers here to man’s authority over created life and can be rendered “you made him to be like a king and gave him glory and greatness” or “you gave him power to rule and gave him splendor and honor.”

The Septuagint translation of 8.5-7 is quoted in Hebrews 2.6-8. It should be noted that in verse 5 the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew “a little” is taken by the author of Hebrews to mean “a little while” (Heb 2.7, 9).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .