I Will Sing of the Steadfast Love of the Lord

A Maskil1 of hEthan the Ezrahite.

¹iI will sing of jthe steadfast love of the Lord, forever;

with my mouth I will make known your kfaithfulness to all generations.

²For I said, j“Steadfast love will be built up forever;

in the heavens lyou will establish your kfaithfulness.”

³You have said, “I have made ma covenant with my nchosen one;

I have osworn to David my servant:

⁴‘I will establish your poffspring forever,

and build your qthrone for all generations.’” Selah

⁵Let rthe heavens praise your swonders, O Lord,

your faithfulness in the assembly of tthe holy ones!

⁶For uwho in the skies can be compared to the Lord?

uWho among the heavenly beings2 is like the Lord,

⁷a God greatly vto be feared in the council of tthe holy ones,

and awesome above all wwho are around him?

⁸O Lord God of hosts,

xwho is mighty as you are, O yLord,

with your faithfulness all around you?

⁹You rule the raging of the sea;

when its waves rise, you zstill them.

¹⁰You acrushed bRahab like a carcass;

you cscattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

¹¹dThe heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;

ethe world and all that is in it, you have ffounded them.

¹²gThe north and the south, you have created them;

hTabor and iHermon jjoyously praise your name.

¹³You have a mighty arm;

strong is your hand, high your right hand.

¹⁴kRighteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;

lsteadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

¹⁵Blessed are the people who know mthe festal shout,

who walk, O Lord, in nthe light of your face,

¹⁶who exult in your oname all the day

and in your righteousness are pexalted.

¹⁷For you are qthe glory of their strength;

by your favor our rhorn is exalted.

¹⁸For our sshield belongs to the Lord,

our king to tthe Holy One of Israel.

¹⁹uOf old you spoke in a vision to your godly one,3 and said:

“I have vgranted help to one who is wmighty;

I have exalted one xchosen from the people.

²⁰yI have found David, my servant;

with my holy oil I have zanointed him,

²¹so that my ahand shall be established with him;

my arm also shall strengthen him.

²²The enemy shall not outwit him;

bthe wicked shall not humble him.

²³I will ccrush his foes before him

and strike down those who hate him.

²⁴My dfaithfulness and my dsteadfast love shall be with him,

and in my name shall his ehorn be exalted.

²⁵I will set his hand on fthe sea

and his right hand on fthe rivers.

²⁶He shall cry to me, ‘You are my gFather,

my God, and hthe Rock of my salvation.’

²⁷And I will make him the ifirstborn,

jthe highest of the kings of the earth.

²⁸My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,

and my kcovenant will stand firm4 for him.

²⁹I will establish his loffspring forever

and his lthrone as mthe days of the heavens.

³⁰nIf his children forsake my law

and do not walk according to my rules,5

³¹if they violate my statutes

and do not keep my commandments,

³²then I will punish their transgression with othe rod

and their iniquity with stripes,

³³but I will not remove from him my steadfast love

or be false to my faithfulness.

³⁴I will not violate my kcovenant

or alter the word that went forth from my lips.

³⁵Once for all I have sworn pby my holiness;

I will not qlie to David.

³⁶His loffspring shall endure forever,

rhis lthrone as long as sthe sun before me.

³⁷Like sthe moon it shall be established forever,

ta faithful witness in the skies.” Selah

³⁸But now you have ucast off and rejected;

you are full of wrath against your vanointed.

³⁹You have wrenounced xthe covenant with your servant;

you have ydefiled his zcrown in the dust.

⁴⁰You have abreached all his walls;

you have laid his strongholds in ruins.

⁴¹aAll who pass by plunder him;

he has become bthe scorn of his neighbors.

⁴²You have exalted the right hand of his foes;

you have made all his enemies rejoice.

⁴³You have also turned back the edge of his sword,

and you have not made him stand in battle.

⁴⁴You have made his splendor to cease

and cast his throne to the ground.

⁴⁵You have cut short cthe days of his youth;

you have dcovered him with shame. Selah

⁴⁶eHow long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?

How long will your wrath fburn like fire?

⁴⁷gRemember hhow short my itime is!

For what vanity you have created all the children of man!

⁴⁸jWhat man can live and never ksee death?

Who can deliver his soul from the power of lSheol? Selah

⁴⁹Lord, where is your msteadfast love of old,

which by your mfaithfulness you swore to David?

⁵⁰nRemember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,

and how I bear in my oheart the insults6 of all the many nations,

⁵¹with which your enemies mock, O Lord,

with which they mock pthe footsteps of your qanointed.

⁵²rBlessed be the Lord forever!

Amen and Amen.