Day 17 — Psalm 89

HEBREW

PSALM 89

Hymn and a prayer to God's faithfulness

Poem, by Ethan the Ezrachite.

I will celebrate Your love for ever, Yahweh,

age after age my words shall proclaim Your faithfulness;

for I claim that love is built to last for ever

and Your faithfulness founded firmly in the heavens.

‘I have made a covenant with My chosen,

I have given My servant David My sworn word:

I have founded your dynasty to last for ever,

I have built you a throne to outlast all time,’ selah.

Yahweh, the assembly of holy ones in heaven

applaud the marvel of Your faithfulness.

Who in the skies can compare with Yahweh?

Which of the heaven-born can rival Him?

God, dreadful in the assembly of holy ones,

great and terrible to all around Him,

Yahweh, God of Sabaoth, who is like You?—

mighty Yahweh, clothed in Your faithfulness!

You control the pride of the ocean,

when its waves ride high, You calm them;

You split Rahab in two like a carcass

and scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.

The heavens are Yours and the earth is Yours,

You founded the world and all it holds,

You created north and south;

Tabor and Hermon hail Your name with joy.

Yours was the arm, and Yours the prowess,

mighty and exalted Your right hand;

righteousness and justice support Your throne,

love and faithfulness are Your attendants.

Happy the people who learn to acclaim You!

Yahweh, they will live in the light of Your favor;

they will rejoice in Your name all day

and exult in Your righteousness.

You are their glory and their strength,

You, by Your kindness, raise our fortunes,

since both our shield and our king

belong to Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel.

Once You spoke in vision

and said to Your friends,

‘I have conferred the crown on a hero,

and promoted one chosen from My people.

‘I have selected my servant david

and anointed him with My holy oil;

My hand will be constantly with him,

he will be able to rely on my arm.

‘No enemy will be able to outwit him,

no wicked man to worst him,

I myself will crush his opponents,

I will strike dead all who hate him.

‘With My faithfulness and love,

his fortunes shall rise in My name.

I will give him control of the sea,

complete control of the rivers.

‘He will invoke Me, “My Father,

my God and Rock of my safety,”

and I shall make him my first-born,

the Most High for kings on earth.

‘I will keep My love for him always,

My covenant with him shall stand.

I have founded his dynasty to last for ever,

his throne to be as lasting as the heavens.

‘Should his descendants desert My Law

and disregard My rulings,

should they violate My statutes

and not keep My commandments,

‘I will punish their sins with the rod

and their crimes with the whip,

but never withdraw My love from him

or fail in My faithfulness.

‘I will not break My covenant,

I will not revoke My given word;

I have sworn on My holiness, once for all,

and cannot turn liar to David.

‘His dynasty shall last forever,

I see his throne like the sun,

enduring for ever like the moon,

that faithful witness in the sky,’ selah.

And yet You have rejected, disowned

and raged against Your anointed;

You have repudiated the covenant with Your servant

and flung his crown dishonored to the ground.

You have pierced all his defenses,

and laid his forts in ruins;

anyone may go and loot him,

his neighbors treat him with scorn.

You have let his opponents get the upper hand,

You made all his enemies happy,

You have snapped his sword on a rock

and failed to support him in battle.

You have stripped him of his glorious scepter,

and toppled his throne to the ground,

You have aged him before his time

and covered him in shame, selah.

Yahweh, how much longer will You hide? For ever?

How much longer must Your anger smolder like a fire?

Remember me, the short time I have left

and the void to which You destine mankind.

What man can cling to life and not see death?

Who can evade the clutches of She’ol? Selah.

Lord, where are those earlier signs of Your love?

You swore Your oath to David on Your faithfulness!

Lord, do not forget how Your servant was insulted,

how I take these pagans' taunts to heart,

insults, Yahweh, that Your enemies have offered,

insults to Your anointed wherever he goes.

Blessed be Yahweh for ever.

Amen. Amen!

The end of the third book of the Psalter.

Next… Day 18 — Psalm 90