Psalm 89

An Ethan Prayer

1-4 Your love, God, is my song, and I'll sing it! I'm forever telling everyone how faithful you are. I'll never quit telling the story of your love— how you built the cosmos and guaranteed everything in it. Your love has always been our lives' foundation, your fidelity has been the roof over our world. You once said, "I joined forces with my chosen leader, I pledged my word to my servant, David, saying, 'Everyone descending from you is guaranteed life; I'll make your rule as solid and lasting as rock.'"
5-18 God! Let the cosmos praise your wonderful ways, the choir of holy angels sing anthems to your faithful ways! Search high and low, scan skies and land, you'll find nothing and no one quite like God. The holy angels are in awe before him; he looms immense and august over everyone around him. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, who is like you, powerful and faithful from every angle? You put the arrogant ocean in its place and calm its waves when they turn unruly. You gave that old hag Egypt the back of your hand, you brushed off your enemies with a flick of your wrist. You own the cosmos—you made everything in it, everything from atom to archangel. You positioned the North and South Poles; the mountains Tabor and Hermon sing duets to you. With your well-muscled arm and your grip of steel— nobody trifles with you! The Right and Justice are the roots of your rule; Love and Truth are its fruits. Blessed are the people who know the passwords of praise, who shout on parade in the bright presence of God. Delighted, they dance all day long; they know who you are, what you do—they can't keep it quiet! Your vibrant beauty has gotten inside us— you've been so good to us! We're walking on air! All we are and have we owe to God, Holy God of Israel, our King!
19-37 A long time ago you spoke in a vision, you spoke to your faithful beloved: "I've crowned a hero, I chose the best I could find; I found David, my servant, poured holy oil on his head, And I'll keep my hand steadily on him, yes, I'll stick with him through thick and thin. No enemy will get the best of him, no scoundrel will do him in. I'll weed out all who oppose him, I'll clean out all who hate him. I'm with him for good and I'll love him forever; I've set him on high—he's riding high! I've put Ocean in his one hand, River in the other; he'll call out, 'Oh, my Father—my God, my Rock of Salvation!' Yes, I'm setting him apart as the First of the royal line, High King over all of earth's kings. I'll preserve him eternally in my love, I'll faithfully do all I so solemnly promised. I'll guarantee his family tree and underwrite his rule. If his children refuse to do what I tell them, if they refuse to walk in the way I show them, If they spit on the directions I give them and tear up the rules I post for them— I'll rub their faces in the dirt of their rebellion and make them face the music. But I'll never throw them out, never abandon or disown them. Do you think I'd withdraw my holy promise? or take back words I'd already spoken? I've given my word, my whole and holy word; do you think I would lie to David? His family tree is here for good, his sovereignty as sure as the sun, Dependable as the phases of the moon, inescapable as weather."
38-52 But God, you did walk off and leave us, you lost your temper with the one you anointed. You tore up the promise you made to your servant, you stomped his crown in the mud. You blasted his home to kingdom come, reduced his city to a pile of rubble Picked clean by wayfaring strangers, a joke to all the neighbors. You declared a holiday for all his enemies, and they're celebrating for all they're worth. Angry, you opposed him in battle, refused to fight on his side; You robbed him of his splendor, humiliated this warrior, ground his kingly honor in the dirt. You took the best years of his life and left him an impotent, ruined husk. How long do we put up with this, God? Are you gone for good? Will you hold this grudge forever? Remember my sorrow and how short life is. Did you create men and women for nothing but this? We'll see death soon enough. Everyone does. And there's no back door out of hell. So where is the love you're so famous for, Lord? What happened to your promise to David? Take a good look at your servant, dear Lord; I'm the butt of the jokes of all nations, The taunting jokes of your enemies, God, as they dog the steps of your dear anointed. Blessed be God forever and always! Yes. Oh, yes.

Psalm 89

1 I will sing of the lovingkindness of Jehovah for ever: With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever; Thy faithfulness wilt thou establish in the very heavens.

3 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant:

4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, And build up thy throne to all generations. Selah

5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Jehovah; Thy faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.

6 For who in the skies can be compared unto Jehovah? Who among the sons of the mighty is like unto Jehovah,

7 A God very terrible in the council of the holy ones, And to be feared above all them that are round about him?

8 O Jehovah God of hosts, Who is a mighty one, like unto thee, O Jehovah? And thy faithfulness is round about thee.

9 Thou rulest the pride of the sea: When the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.

10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; Thou hast scattered thine enemies with the arm of thy strength.

11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: The world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.

12 The north and the south, thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon rejoice in thy name.

13 Thou hast a mighty arm; Strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne: Lovingkindness and truth go before thy face.

15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: They walk, O Jehovah, in the light of thy countenance.

16 In thy name do they rejoice all the day; And in thy righteousness are they exalted.

17 For thou art the glory of their strength; And in thy favor our horn shall be exalted.

18 For our shield belongeth unto Jehovah; And our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19 Then thou spakest in vision to thy saints, And saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

20 I have found David my servant; With my holy oil have I anointed him:

21 With whom my hand shall be established; Mine arm also shall strengthen him.

22 The enemy shall not exact from him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

23 And I will beat down his adversaries before him, And smite them that hate him.

24 But my faithfulness and my lovingkindness shall be with him; And in my name shall his horn be exalted.

25 I will set his hand also on the sea, And his right hand on the rivers.

26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.

27 I also will make him my first-born, The highest of the kings of the earth.

28 My lovingkindness will I keep for him for evermore; And my covenant shall stand fast with him.

29 His seed also will I make to endure for ever, And his throne as the days of heaven.

30 If his children forsake my law, And walk not in mine ordinances;

31 If they break my statutes, And keep not my commandments;

32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes.

33 But my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, Nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.

34 My covenant will I not break, Nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

35  Once have I sworn by my holiness: I will not lie unto David:

36 His seed shall endure for ever, And his throne as the sun before me.

37  It shall be established for ever as the moon, And as the faithful witness in the sky. Selah

38 But thou hast cast off and rejected, Thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.

39 Thou hast abhorred the covenant of thy servant: Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.

40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges; Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin.

41 All that pass by the way rob him: He is become a reproach to his neighbors.

42 Thou hast exalted the right hand of his adversaries; Thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.

43 Yea, thou turnest back the edge of his sword, And hast not made him to stand in the battle.

44 Thou hast made his brightness to cease, And cast his throne down to the ground.

45 The days of his youth hast thou shortened: Thou hast covered him with shame. Selah

46 How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? How long shall thy wrath burn like fire?

47 Oh remember how short my time is: For what vanity hast thou created all the children of men!

48 What man is he that shall live and not see death, That shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

49 Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, Which thou swarest unto David in thy faithfulness?

50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; How I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty peoples,

51 Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Jehovah, Wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.

52 Blessed be Jehovah for evermore. Amen, and Amen. BOOK IV