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89. Psalm 89

1 I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever;
   with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known
   through all generations.
2 I will declare that your love stands firm forever,
   that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.
3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
   I have sworn to David my servant,
4 ‘I will establish your line forever
   and make your throne firm through all generations.’” The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 37, 45 and 48.

    5 The heavens praise your wonders, LORD,
   your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD?
   Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings?
7 In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared;
   he is more awesome than all who surround him.
8 Who is like you, LORD God Almighty?
   You, LORD, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.

    9 You rule over the surging sea;
   when its waves mount up, you still them.
10 You crushed Rahab like one of the slain;
   with your strong arm you scattered your enemies.
11 The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth;
   you founded the world and all that is in it.
12 You created the north and the south;
   Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name.
13 Your arm is endowed with power;
   your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.

    14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
   love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
   who walk in the light of your presence, LORD.
16 They rejoice in your name all day long;
   they celebrate your righteousness.
17 For you are their glory and strength,
   and by your favor you exalt our horn. Horn here symbolizes strong one.
18 Indeed, our shield Or sovereign belongs to the LORD,
   our king to the Holy One of Israel.

    19 Once you spoke in a vision,
   to your faithful people you said:
“I have bestowed strength on a warrior;
   I have raised up a young man from among the people.
20 I have found David my servant;
   with my sacred oil I have anointed him.
21 My hand will sustain him;
   surely my arm will strengthen him.
22 The enemy will not get the better of him;
   the wicked will not oppress him.
23 I will crush his foes before him
   and strike down his adversaries.
24 My faithful love will be with him,
   and through my name his horn Horn here symbolizes strength. will be exalted.
25 I will set his hand over the sea,
   his right hand over the rivers.
26 He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father,
   my God, the Rock my Savior.’
27 And I will appoint him to be my firstborn,
   the most exalted of the kings of the earth.
28 I will maintain my love to him forever,
   and my covenant with him will never fail.
29 I will establish his line forever,
   his throne as long as the heavens endure.

    30 “If his sons forsake my law
   and do not follow my statutes,
31 if they violate my decrees
   and fail to keep my commands,
32 I will punish their sin with the rod,
   their iniquity with flogging;
33 but I will not take my love from him,
   nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.
34 I will not violate my covenant
   or alter what my lips have uttered.
35 Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness—
   and I will not lie to David—
36 that his line will continue forever
   and his throne endure before me like the sun;
37 it will be established forever like the moon,
   the faithful witness in the sky.”

    38 But you have rejected, you have spurned,
   you have been very angry with your anointed one.
39 You have renounced the covenant with your servant
   and have defiled his crown in the dust.
40 You have broken through all his walls
   and reduced his strongholds to ruins.
41 All who pass by have plundered him;
   he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
   you have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 Indeed, you have turned back the edge of his sword
   and have not supported him in battle.
44 You have put an end to his splendor
   and cast his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut short the days of his youth;
   you have covered him with a mantle of shame.

    46 How long, LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?
   How long will your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how fleeting is my life.
   For what futility you have created all humanity!
48 Who can live and not see death,
   or who can escape the power of the grave?
49 Lord, where is your former great love,
   which in your faithfulness you swore to David?
50 Remember, Lord, how your servant has Or your servants have been mocked,
   how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations,
51 the taunts with which your enemies, LORD, have mocked,
   with which they have mocked every step of your anointed one.

    52 Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and Amen.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine. He again repeats, the third time, that the same God who had been the deliverer of the chosen people exercises supreme dominion over the whole world. From the fact that God created all things, he concludes, that it is He who actually presides over, and controls whatever takes place in heaven and in earth. It would be absurd to suppose, that the heavens, having been once created by God, should now revolve by chance, and that things should be thrown into confusion upon the earth either at the will of men, or at random, when it is considered that it belongs to God to maintain and govern whatever he has created; unless, like the heathen, we would imagine that he enjoys himself in beholding all the works of his hand, in this beautiful theater of the heaven and the earth, without giving himself any farther trouble about them. In speaking of the south and the north, and also of the mountains, Tabor and Hermon, the prophet accommodates his language to the unrefined apprehension of the common people: as if he had said, there is no part of the fabric of the world which does not reverence and honor its Creator. I also connect with this the next verse, which affirms, that the arm of God is furnished with power, his hand with strength, and that his right hand is exalted Some resolve the two last clauses of the verse into the form of a prayer, Strengthen thy hand, lift up thy right hand; but this seems too much removed from the mind of the prophet, who, with the simple view of encouraging all the godly, celebrates the inconceivable power of God.

14. Righteousness and judgement are the place of thy throne. These encomiums serve more effectually to confirm the hope of true believers than if the Divine power alone had been presented to our view. Whenever mention is made of God, it behoves us to apply our minds principally to those attributes of his nature which are specially fitted for establishing our faith, that we may not lose ourselves by vainly indulging in subtile speculations, by which foolish men, although they may minister to their own mental recreation, make no advances to the right understanding of what God really is. The prophet, therefore, in allusion to the insignia and pomp of kings, declares that righteousness and judgment are the pillars of the throne on which God sits conspicuous in sovereign state, and that mercy and truth are, as it were, his pursuivants; as if he had said, “The ornaments with which God is invested, instead of being a robe of purple, a diadem, or a scepter, are, that he is the righteous and impartial judge of the world, a merciful father, and a faithful protector of his people.” Earthly kings, from their having nothing in themselves to procure for them authority, and to give them dignity, 533533     Tabor is a mountain of Judea, and Hermon (Psalm 133:3) of Syria, the former to the west, and the latter to the east of the Jordan; so that they may be considered as put for the East and the West. Accordingly, the Chaldee paraphrase is, “Thou hast created the desert of the north, and the inhabitants of the south; Tabor on the west, and Hermon on the east, sing praises to thy name.” “These mountains,” says Warner, “were at a considerable distance from each other. This indicates, that the most distant parts of the land shall be equally blessed; have a like cause of rejoicing.” are under the necessity of borrowing elsewhere what will invest them therewith; but God having in himself an all-sufficiency, and standing in no need of any other helps, exhibits to us the splendor of his own image in his righteousness, mercy, and truth.
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