^1aAn Instructive Psalm of Ethan the Ezrahite.

^1bI will sing the Lord's acts of kindness age-abidingly;

From generation to generation I will make your faithfulness known

By the word of my mouth.

²For I have said,

“Kindness will be built up for the age.”

As for the heavens,

You will prepare your faithfulness in them.

³“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,

I have sworn to David my servant,

⁴‘I will establish your seed age-abidingly,

And I will build up your throne

From generation to generation.’ ”

Selah.

⁵And the heavens will praise your wondrous power, O Lord,

As also your faithfulness in the convocation of the holy ones.

⁶For who in the sky is comparable to the Lord?

Who can be likened to the Lord

Among the mighty ones?

⁷– A most formidable God in the council of the holy ones,

And fearsome to all around him?

⁸O Lord God of hosts,

Who is strong like you, O Lord,

With your faithfulness around you?

⁹You rule over the haughtiness of the sea;

When the waves arise,

You calm them.

¹⁰You have crushed Rahab like the slain;

With your strong arm

You have scattered your enemies.

¹¹Yours are the heavens;

Yours also is the earth.

As for the world and its fulness,

You founded them.

¹²North and south – you created them.

Tabor and Hermon – they rejoice in your name.

¹³You have a valiant arm,

Your hand is strong;

Your right hand is exalted.

¹⁴Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;

Kindness and truth go before you.

¹⁵Happy is the people that knows the sound;

O Lord, they will walk in the light of your presence.

¹⁶They will rejoice in your name all day long,

And they will be exalted in your righteousness.

¹⁷For you are the splendour of their strength,

And by your goodwill,

Our horn will be exalted.

¹⁸For the Lord is the possessor of our shield,

And the holy one of Israel is the possessor of our king.

¹⁹At that time you spoke in a vision to those under your grace and said,

“I have bestowed help on the warrior;

I have exalted a chosen one out of the people.

²¹With whom my hand will be established,

To whom also my arm will give courage.

²²The enemy will not come upon him,

Nor will the unjust man afflict him.

²³And I will beat his adversaries down before him

And strike down those who hate him.

²⁴And my faithfulness and my kindness will be with him,

And his horn will be exalted in my name.

²⁵And I will put his hand in the sea

And his right hand in the rivers.

²⁶He will call out to me,

‘You are my father,

My God, and the rock of my salvation.’

²⁷I will also place him as the firstborn

– The highest of the kings of the earth.

²⁸I will maintain my kindness to him age-abidingly,

And my covenant will remain faithful to him.

²⁹And I will appoint his seed in perpetuity,

And his throne as the days of heaven.

³⁰If his sons forsake my law,

Or do not walk in my judicial pronouncements,

³¹Or if they violate my statutes,

Or do not keep my commandments,

³²Then I will visit their transgression with a rod,

And their iniquity with beatings.

³³But I will not lay aside my kindness with him,

And I will not default on my faithfulness.

³⁴I will not break my covenant,

And I will not change the utterance of my lips.

³⁵I have sworn by my holiness once;

I will certainly not lie to David.

³⁶His seed will abide for the age,

And his throne like the sun before me,

³⁷Just as the moon is established for the age,

And is a faithful witness in the sky.”

Selah.

³⁸But you have turned away and rejected

– And become irate with –

Your anointed.

³⁹You have detested your servant's covenant;

You have rendered his crown powerless on the ground.

⁴⁰You have broken through all his fences;

You have made his fortifications a ruin.

⁴¹All kinds of travellers have plundered him;

He has become a reproach to his neighbours.

⁴²You have raised the right hand of his adversaries;

You have brought joy to all his enemies.

⁴³Also you have driven back the blade of his sword,

And you have not upheld him in battle.

⁴⁴You have put an end to his splendour,

And you have cast his throne down to the ground.

⁴⁵You have curtailed the days of his youth;

You have covered him with shame.

Selah.

⁴⁶How long, O Lord, will you be constantly hidden?

How long will your fury burn like fire?

⁴⁷Remember what kind of a lifetime I have.

– To what kind of vain end

You have created all the sons of Adam.

⁴⁸What man will live and will not see death?

– What man can deliver his life from the power of the grave?

Selah.

⁴⁹Where are your former acts of kindness, O Lord^*,

Which you swore to David in your faithfulness?

⁵⁰Remember, O Lord^*, the reproach of your servants

– Me bearing it in my bosom –

From all kinds of mighty peoples,

⁵¹In that your enemies have made reproaches, O Lord,

In that they have reproached the footsteps of your anointed.

⁵²Blessed be the Lord age-abidingly.

Amen and amen.

Reference(s) in Chapter 89: v.20 ↔ Acts 13:22 ● v.29 ↔ John 7:42 ● v.36 ↔ John 12:34, Acts 2:30.