Psalms 89
The psalmist expresses eternal gratitude to God for His mercy and truth, and recalls God's covenant with David, promising to establish his throne forever. God's power and glory are described, and the psalmist notes that God's mercy and truth will precede His face. However, the psalmist then laments that God has rejected and despised His anointed one, David, and has broken His covenant, allowing his enemies to prevail. The psalmist asks God to remember His mercies and to restore His covenant with David.
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 generationFor you have said: Mercy will be built in the heavens, unto eternity. Your truth will be prepared thereI have set up a covenant with my elect. I have sworn to David my servantI will prepare your offspring, even in eternity. And I will build up your throne, from generation to generationThe heavens will confess your miracles, Lord, and also your truth, in the Church of the saintsFor who among the clouds is equal to the Lord? Who among the sons of God is like GodGod is glorified by the counsel of the saints. He is great and terrible above all those who are around himO Lord, God of hosts, who is like you? You are powerful, Lord, and your truth is all around youYou rule over the power of the sea, and you even mitigate the movement of its wavesYou have humbled the arrogant one, like one who has been wounded. You have scattered your enemies with the arm of your strengthYours are the heavens, and yours is the earth. You founded the whole world in all its fullnessYou created the north and the sea. Tabor and Hermon will exult in your nameYour arm acts with power. Let your hand be strengthened, and let your right hand be exaltedJustice and judgment are the preparation of your throne. Mercy and truth will precede your faceBlessed is the people that knows jubilation. They will walk in the light of your countenance, O Lordand they will exult in your name all day long, and they will be exalted in your justiceFor you are the glory of their virtue, and in your goodness, our horn will be exaltedFor our assumption is of the Lord, and it is of our king, the holy one of IsraelThen 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 peopleI have found my servant David. I have anointed him with my holy oilFor my hand will assist him, and my arm will fortify himThe enemy will have no advantage over him, nor will the son of iniquity be positioned to harm himAnd I will cut down his enemies before his face. And those who hate him, I will turn to flightAnd my truth and my mercy will be with him. And his horn will be exalted in my nameAnd I will place his hand on the sea and his right hand on the riversHe will invoke me: "You are my father, my God, and the support of my salvation.And I will make him the first-born, preeminent before the kings of the earthI will preserve my mercy for him eternally, and my covenant for him faithfullyAnd I will set his offspring from generation to generation, and his throne like the days of heavenBut if his sons abandon my law, and if they do not walk in my judgmentsif they profane my justices, and if they do not keep my commandmentsI will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with a beatingBut I will not scatter my mercy from him, and I will not do harm to my truthAnd I will not profane my covenant, and I will not make void that which proceeds from my lipsI have sworn by my holiness one time: I will not lie to Davidhis offspring will remain for eternity. And his throne will be like the sun in my sightand, like the moon, it is perfected in eternity, and it is a faithful witness in heavenYet, truly, you have rejected and despised, you have pushed away, my ChristYou have overthrown the covenant of your servant. You have profaned his sanctuary on earthYou have destroyed all his fences. You have made his territory dreadfulAll who pass by the way have plundered him. He has become a disgrace to his neighborsYou have exalted the right hand of those who oppress him. You have brought joy to all his enemiesYou have diverted the help of his sword, and you have not assisted him in battleYou have torn him away from cleansing, and you have smashed his throne down to the groundYou have reduced the days of his time. You have flooded him with confusionHow long, O Lord? Will you turn away unto the end? Will your wrath flare up like a fireRemember what my substance is. For could you really have appointed all the sons of men in vainWho is the man that will live, and yet not see death? Who will rescue his own soul from the hand of the underworldO Lord, where are your mercies of antiquity, just as you swore to David in your truthBe mindful, O Lord, of the disgrace of your servants (which I have sustained in my sinews) among many nationsWith these, your enemies have reproached you, O Lord; with these, they have reproached the commutation of your ChristBlessed is the Lord for all eternity. Amen. Amen
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