Psalms 89
1 The understanding of Ethan the Ezrahite. I will sing the mercies of the Lord in eternity. I will announce your truth with my mouth, from generation to generation.
A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite. I will sing evermore of the love of the Lord, proclaiming to all generations his faithfulness.
2 For you have said: Mercy will be built in the heavens, unto eternity. Your truth will be prepared there.
For your love you did promise to build up forever, your faithfulness firm as the heavens themselves.
3 I have set up a covenant with my elect. I have sworn to David my servant:
‘I have made with my chosen a covenant, and sworn to David my servant,
4 I will prepare your offspring, even in eternity. And I will build up your throne, from generation to generation.
to establish his seed forever, and to build up his throne to all ages.’ (Selah)
5 The heavens will confess your miracles, Lord, and also your truth, in the Church of the saints.
Then the holy assembly in heaven praised your marvellous faithfulness, Lord.
6 For who among the clouds is equal to the Lord? Who among the sons of God is like God?
For who in the skies may compare with the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the gods?
7 God is glorified by the counsel of the saints. He is great and terrible above all those who are around him.
A God to be feared in the holy assembly, awful and great above all who are round him.
8 O Lord, God of hosts, who is like you? You are powerful, Lord, and your truth is all around you.
O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you? Your strength and faithfulness, Lord, surround you.
9 You rule over the power of the sea, and you even mitigate the movement of its waves.
You are the Lord of the raging sea: when its waves surge, it is you who still them.
10 You have humbled the arrogant one, like one who has been wounded. You have scattered your enemies with the arm of your strength.
It was you who did pierce and crush Rahab in pieces, and scatter your foes by your mighty arm.
11 Yours are the heavens, and yours is the earth. You founded the whole world in all its fullness.
Yours are the heavens, yours also the earth, the world and its fulness, it’s you who did found them.
12 You created the north and the sea. Tabor and Hermon will exult in your name.
The north and the south, it’s you have created them; Tabor and Hermon shout praise to your name.
13 Your arm acts with power. Let your hand be strengthened, and let your right hand be exalted.
You have an arm with the might of a hero; strong is your hand, high uplifted your right hand.
14 Justice and judgment are the preparation of your throne. Mercy and truth will precede your face.
Justice and right are the base of your throne, kindness and faithfulness ever attend you.
15 Blessed is the people that knows jubilation. They will walk in the light of your countenance, O Lord,
Happy the people who know the glad shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face.
16 and they will exult in your name all day long, and they will be exalted in your justice.
They exult in your name all the day, and your righteousness they extol.
17 For you are the glory of their virtue, and in your goodness, our horn will be exalted.
For you are our strength and our pride. Your favour will lift us to honour.
18 For our assumption is of the Lord, and it is of our king, the holy one of Israel.
For the holy Lord of Israel keeps our defender and king.
19 Then you spoke in a vision to your holy ones, and you said: I have stationed help with the powerful one, and I have exalted the elect one from my people.
In a vision of old you did speak in this way to the one whom you loved: ‘A crown I have set on the hero I chose to be over the people
20 I have found my servant David. I have anointed him with my holy oil.
‘I found my servant David, and anointed with holy oil.
21 For my hand will assist him, and my arm will fortify him.
My hand will be with him forever, my arm will give him strength.
22 The enemy will have no advantage over him, nor will the son of iniquity be positioned to harm him.
‘No enemy will dare to assail him, nor the wicked to oppress him;
23 And I will cut down his enemies before his face. And those who hate him, I will turn to flight.
but his foes I will shatter before him, I will strike down those who hate him.
24 And my truth and my mercy will be with him. And his horn will be exalted in my name.
‘My loyal love shall attend him, and I will lift him to honour.
25 And I will place his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers.
I will set his hand on the sea, and his right hand on the rivers.
26 He will invoke me: “You are my father, my God, and the support of my salvation.”
‘As for him, he will call me “My father, my God, and my rock of salvation.”
27 And I will make him the first-born, preeminent before the kings of the earth.
And I will make him my firstborn, highest of kings on the earth.
28 I will preserve my mercy for him eternally, and my covenant for him faithfully.
‘My love will I keep for him ever, my covenant with him shall stand fast.
29 And I will set his offspring from generation to generation, and his throne like the days of heaven.
His line will I make everlasting, and his throne as the days of the heavens.
30 But if his sons abandon my law, and if they do not walk in my judgments,
‘If his children forsake my law, and walk not as I have ordained;
31 if they profane my justices, and if they do not keep my commandments:
if they profane my statutes, and do not keep my commandments;
32 I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with a beating.
‘I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with scourges.
33 But I will not scatter my mercy from him, and I will not do harm to my truth.
But my love will I not take from him, nor will I belie my faithfulness.
34 And I will not profane my covenant, and I will not make void that which proceeds from my lips.
‘I will not profane my covenant by changing the word that has passed my lips.
35 I have sworn by my holiness one time: I will not lie to David,
Once have I solemnly sworn and I would not lie to David,
36 his offspring will remain for eternity. And his throne will be like the sun in my sight,
‘that his line should endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me,
37 and, like the moon, it is perfected in eternity, and it is a faithful witness in heaven.
firm as the moon which for ever and ever is fixed in the sky.’ (Selah)
38 Yet, truly, you have rejected and despised, you have pushed away, my Christ.
But you have cast off in contempt, and been furious with your anointed.
39 You have overthrown the covenant of your servant. You have profaned his sanctuary on earth.
You have spurned the covenant with your servant, and his sacred crown dashed to the ground.
40 You have destroyed all his fences. You have made his territory dreadful.
You have broken down all his walls, and laid his bulwarks in ruins.
41 All who pass by the way have plundered him. He has become a disgrace to his neighbors.
All who pass on their way despoil him, the scorn of his neighbours is he now.
42 You have exalted the right hand of those who oppress him. You have brought joy to all his enemies.
You have given his foes the victory, and made all his enemies glad.
43 You have diverted the help of his sword, and you have not assisted him in battle.
You have turned back his sword from the foe, you did not lift him up in the battle.
44 You have torn him away from cleansing, and you have smashed his throne down to the ground.
The sceptre you took from his hand, and his throne you did hurl to the ground.
45 You have reduced the days of his time. You have flooded him with confusion.
You have shortened the days of his youth, and covered him with shame. (Selah)
46 How long, O Lord? Will you turn away unto the end? Will your wrath flare up like a fire?
How long, Lord will you hide you forever? How long are the fires of your wrath to burn?
47 Remember what my substance is. For could you really have appointed all the sons of men in vain?
Remember, Lord, the shortness of life how fleeting you made all people.
48 Who is the man that will live, and yet not see death? Who will rescue his own soul from the hand of the underworld? (Sheol h7585)
Who can live without seeing death? Who can rescue their life from the clutch of Sheol? (Selah) (Sheol h7585)
49 O Lord, where are your mercies of antiquity, just as you swore to David in your truth?
Where, Lord, is your kindness of old, which you in your faithfulness swore to David?
50 Be mindful, O Lord, of the disgrace of your servants (which I have sustained in my sinews) among many nations.
Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, how I bear in my heart the scorn of all nations
51 With these, your enemies have reproached you, O Lord; with these, they have reproached the commutation of your Christ.
The scorn which your enemies hurl, O Lord, which they hurl at the footsteps of your anointed.
52 Blessed is the Lord for all eternity. Amen. Amen.
Blest be the Lord, for ever and ever. Amen and Amen.
