תהילים פט

A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

I will sing of GOD’s steadfast love forever;
to all generations I will proclaim Your faithfulness with my mouth.

I declare, “Your steadfast love is confirmed forever;
there in the heavens You establish Your faithfulness.”

“I have made a covenant with My chosen one;
I have sworn to My servant David:

I will establish your offspring forever,
I will confirm your throne for all generations.”    Selah.

Your wonders, O ETERNAL One, are praised by the heavens,
Your faithfulness, too, in the assembly of holy beings.

For who in the skies can equal GOD,
can compare with GOD among the divine beings,

a God greatly dreaded in the council of holy beings,
held in awe by those all around?

O ETERNAL One, God of hosts,
who is mighty like You, O Yah?
Your faithfulness surrounds You;

You rule the swelling of the sea;
when its waves surge, You still them.

You crushed Rahab; he was like a corpse;
with Your powerful arm You scattered Your enemies.

The heaven is Yours,
the earth too;
the world and all it holds—
You established them.

North and south—
You created them;
Tabor and Hermon sing forth Your name.

Yours is an arm endowed with might;
Your hand is strong;
Your right hand, exalted.

Righteousness and justice are the base of Your throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness stand before You.

Happy is the people who know the joyful shout;
O ETERNAL One, they walk in the light of Your presence.

They rejoice in Your name all day long;
they are exalted through Your righteousness.

For You are their strength in which they glory;
our horn is exalted through Your favor.

Truly our shield is of GOD,
our monarch, of the Holy One of Israel.

Then You spoke to Your faithful ones in a vision
and said, “I have conferred power upon a warrior;
I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

I have found David, My servant;
anointed him with My sacred oil.

My hand shall be constantly with him,
and My arm shall strengthen him.

No enemy shall oppress him,
no one vile afflict him.

I will crush his adversaries before him;
I will strike down those who hate him.

My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him;
his horn shall be exalted through My name.

I will set his hand upon the sea,
his right hand upon the rivers.

He shall say to Me,
‘You are my father, my God, the rock of my deliverance.’

I will appoint him first-born,
highest of the kings of the earth.

I will maintain My steadfast love for him always;
My covenant with him shall endure.

I will establish his line forever,
his throne, as long as the heavens last.

If his sons forsake My Teaching
and do not live by My rules;

if they violate My laws,
and do not observe My commands,

I will punish their transgression with the rod,
their iniquity with plagues.

But I will not take away My steadfast love from him;
I will not betray My faithfulness.

I will not violate My covenant,
or change what I have uttered.

I have sworn by My holiness, once and for all;
I will not be false to David.

His line shall continue forever,
his throne, as the sun before Me,

as the moon, established forever,
an enduring witness in the sky.”    Selah.

Yet You have rejected, spurned,
and become enraged at Your anointed.

You have repudiated the covenant with Your servant;
You have dragged his dignity in the dust.

You have breached all his defenses,
shattered his strongholds.

All who pass by plunder him;
he has become the butt of his neighbors.

You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries,
and made all his enemies rejoice.

You have turned back the blade of his sword,
and have not sustained him in battle.

You have brought his splendor to an end
and have hurled his throne to the ground.

You have cut short the days of his youth;
You have covered him with shame.    Selah.

How long, O ETERNAL One; will You forever hide Your face,
will Your fury blaze like fire?

O remember how short my life is;
why should You have created every person in vain?

Who can live and not see death,
can escape the clutches of Sheol?    Selah.

O my Sovereign, where is Your steadfast love of old
that You swore to David in Your faithfulness?

Remember, O my Sovereign, the abuse flung at Your servants
that I have borne in my bosom [from] many peoples,

how Your enemies, O ETERNAL One, have flung abuse,
abuse at Your anointed at every step.

Blessed is GOD forever;
Amen and Amen.