Chapter 89

¹{An instruction. Of Ethan the Ezrahite.} I will sing of the loving-kindness of Jehovah for ever; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness from generation to generation. ²For I said, Loving-kindness shall be built up for ever; in the very heavens wilt thou establish thy faithfulness. ³I have made a covenant with mine elect, I have sworn unto David my servant: ⁴Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne from generation to generation. Selah. ⁵And the heavens shall celebrate thy wonders, O Jehovah, and thy faithfulness in the congregation of the saints. ⁶For who in the heaven can be compared to Jehovah? [who] among the sons of the mighty shall be likened to Jehovah? ⁷God is greatly to be feared in the council of the saints, and terrible for all that are round about him. ⁸Jehovah, God of hosts, who is like unto thee, the strong Jah? And thy faithfulness is round about thee. ⁹Thou rulest the pride of the sea: when its waves arise, thou stillest them. ¹⁰Thou hast crushed Rahab as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with the arm of thy strength. ¹¹Thine are the heavens, the earth also is thine; the world and its fulness, thou hast founded them. ¹²The north and the south, thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon triumph in thy name. ¹³Thine is the arm of might: strong is thy hand, high is thy right hand. ¹⁴Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of thy throne; loving-kindness and truth go before thy face. ¹⁵Blessed is the people that know the shout of joy: they walk, O Jehovah, in the light of thy countenance. ¹⁶In thy name are they joyful all the day, and in thy righteousness are they exalted. ¹⁷For thou art the glory of their strength; and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted. ¹⁸For Jehovah is our shield, and the Holy One of Israel, our king. ¹⁹Then thou spakest in vision of thy Holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon a mighty one; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. ²⁰I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: ²¹With whom my hand shall be established; and mine arm shall strengthen him. ²²No enemy shall exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him; ²³But I will beat down his adversaries before his face, and will smite them that hate him. ²⁴And my faithfulness and my loving-kindness shall be with him, and by my name shall his horn be exalted. ²⁵And I will set his hand in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. ²⁶He shall call unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation; ²⁷And as to me, I will make him firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. ²⁸My loving-kindness will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him; ²⁹And I will establish his seed for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. ³⁰If his sons forsake my law, and walk not in mine ordinances; ³¹If they profane my statutes, and keep not my commandments: ³²Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. ³³Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor belie my faithfulness; ³⁴My covenant will I not profane, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. ³⁵Once have I sworn by my holiness; I will not lie unto David: ³⁶His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me; ³⁷It shall be established for ever as the moon, and the witness in the sky is firm. Selah. ³⁸But thou hast rejected and cast off; thou hast been very wroth with thine anointed: ³⁹Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant; thou hast profaned his crown to the ground: ⁴⁰Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin. ⁴¹All that pass by the way plunder him; he is become a reproach to his neighbours. ⁴²Thou hast exalted the right hand of his oppressors; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice: ⁴³Yea, thou hast turned back the edge of his sword, and hast not made him stand in the battle. ⁴⁴Thou hast made his brightness to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground; ⁴⁵The days of his youth hast thou shortened; thou hast covered him with shame. Selah. ⁴⁶How long, Jehovah, wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy fury burn like fire? ⁴⁷Remember, as regards me, what life is. Wherefore hast thou created all the children of men to be vanity? ⁴⁸What man liveth, and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah. ⁴⁹Where, Lord, are thy former loving-kindnesses, [which] thou swarest unto David in thy faithfulness? ⁵⁰Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants -- that I bear in my bosom [that of] all the mighty peoples -- ⁵¹Wherewith thine enemies, O Jehovah, have reproached, wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed. ⁵²Blessed be Jehovah for evermore! Amen, and Amen.