Psalms 88

¹The understanding of Ethan the Ezrahite

²I will sing the mercies of the Lord in eternity. I will announce your truth with my mouth, from generation to generation

³For you have said: Mercy will be built in the heavens, unto eternity. Your truth will be prepared there

⁴I have set up a covenant with my elect. I have sworn to David my servant

⁵I will prepare your offspring, even in eternity. And I will build up your throne, from generation to generation

⁶The heavens will confess your miracles, Lord, and also your truth, in the Church of the saints

⁷For who among the clouds is equal to the Lord? Who among the sons of God is like God

⁸God is glorified by the counsel of the saints. He is great and terrible above all those who are around him

⁹O Lord, God of hosts, who is like you? You are powerful, Lord, and your truth is all around you

¹⁰You rule over the power of the sea, and you even mitigate the movement of its waves

¹¹You have humbled the arrogant one, like one who has been wounded. You have scattered your enemies with the arm of your strength

¹²Yours are the heavens, and yours is the earth. You founded the whole world in all its fullness

¹³You created the north and the sea. Tabor and Hermon will exult in your name

¹⁴Your arm acts with power. Let your hand be strengthened, and let your right hand be exalted

¹⁵Justice and judgment are the preparation of your throne. Mercy and truth will precede your face

¹⁶Blessed is the people that knows jubilation. They will walk in the light of your countenance, O Lord

¹⁷and they will exult in your name all day long, and they will be exalted in your justice

¹⁸For you are the glory of their virtue, and in your goodness, our horn will be exalted

¹⁹For our assumption is of the Lord, and it is of our king, the holy one of Israel

²⁰Then 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 people

²¹I have found my servant David. I have anointed him with my holy oil

²²For my hand will assist him, and my arm will fortify him

²³The enemy will have no advantage over him, nor will the son of iniquity be positioned to harm him

²⁴And I will cut down his enemies before his face. And those who hate him, I will turn to flight

²⁵And my truth and my mercy will be with him. And his horn will be exalted in my name

²⁶And I will place his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers

²⁷He will invoke me: “You are my father, my God, and the support of my salvation.

²⁸And I will make him the first-born, preeminent before the kings of the earth

²⁹I will preserve my mercy for him eternally, and my covenant for him faithfully

³⁰And I will set his offspring from generation to generation, and his throne like the days of heaven

³¹But if his sons abandon my law, and if they do not walk in my judgments

³²if they profane my justices, and if they do not keep my commandments

³³I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins with a beating

³⁴But I will not scatter my mercy from him, and I will not do harm to my truth

³⁵And I will not profane my covenant, and I will not make void that which proceeds from my lips

³⁶I have sworn by my holiness one time: I will not lie to David

³⁷his offspring will remain for eternity. And his throne will be like the sun in my sight

³⁸and, like the moon, it is perfected in eternity, and it is a faithful witness in heaven

³⁹Yet, truly, you have rejected and despised, you have pushed away, my Christ

⁴⁰You have overthrown the covenant of your servant. You have profaned his sanctuary on earth

⁴¹You have destroyed all his fences. You have made his territory dreadful

⁴²All who pass by the way have plundered him. He has become a disgrace to his neighbors

⁴³You have exalted the right hand of those who oppress him. You have brought joy to all his enemies

⁴⁴You have diverted the help of his sword, and you have not assisted him in battle

⁴⁵You have torn him away from cleansing, and you have smashed his throne down to the ground

⁴⁶You have reduced the days of his time. You have flooded him with confusion

⁴⁷How long, O Lord? Will you turn away unto the end? Will your wrath flare up like a fire

⁴⁸Remember what my substance is. For could you really have appointed all the sons of men in vain

⁴⁹Who is the man that will live, and yet not see death? Who will rescue his own soul from the hand of the underworld

⁵⁰O Lord, where are your mercies of antiquity, just as you swore to David in your truth

⁵¹Be mindful, O Lord, of the disgrace of your servants (which I have sustained in my sinews) among many nations

⁵²With these, your enemies have reproached you, O Lord; with these, they have reproached the commutation of your Christ

⁵³Blessed is the Lord for all eternity. Amen. Amen