An instructiona . By Ethan, the Ezrahite

God’s Covenant with David

1I will sing forever about the gracious love of the LORD;

from generation to generation

I will declare your faithfulness with my mouth.

2I will declare that your gracious love was established forever;

in the heavens itself, you have established your faithfulness.

3I have made a covenant with my chosen one;

I have made a promise to David, my servant.

4“I will establish your dynasty forever,

and I will lift up one who will buildb your throne

from generation to generation.”

Interlude

5Even the heavens praise your awesome deeds, LORD,

your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.

6For who in the skies compares to the LORD?

Who is like the LORD among the divine beings?

7God is feared in the council of the holy ones,

revered by all those around him.

8LORD God of the Heavenly Armies,

who is as mighty as you, LORD?

Your faithfulness surrounds you.

9You rule over the majesticc sea;

when its waves surge,

you calm them.

10You crushed the proud oned to death;

with your powerful arm

you scattered your enemies.

11Heaven and the earth belong to you,

the world and everything it contains—

you established them.

12The north and south—you created them;

Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.

13Your arm is strong;

your hand is mighty;

indeed, your right hand is victorious.e

14Righteousness and justice make up

the foundation of your throne;

gracious love and truth meet before you.

15How happy are the people who can worship joyfully!f

LORD, they walk in the light of your presence.

16In your name they rejoice all day long;

they exult in your justice.g

17For you are their strength’s grandeur;

by your favor you exalted our power.h

18Indeed, our shield belongs to the LORD,

and our king to the Holy One of Israel.

God’s Describes His Anointed

19You spoke to your faithfuli ones through a vision:j

“I will set a helper overk a warrior.

I will raise up a chosen one from the people.

20I have found my servant David;

I have anointed him with my sacred oil,

21with whom my powerl will be firmly established;

for my arm will strengthen him.

22No enemy will deceive him;

no wicked personm will afflict him.

23I will crush his enemies before him

and strike those who hate him.

24My faithfulness and gracious love will be with him,

and in my name his powern will be exalted.

25I will place his hando over the sea,

and his right handp over the rivers.

26He will announce to me

‘You are my father,

my God, and the rock of my salvation.’

27“Indeed, I myself made him the firstborn,

the highest of the kings of the earth.

28I will showq my gracious love toward him forever,

since my covenant is securely established with him.

29I will establish his dynastyr forever,

and his throne as long as heaven endures.s

30“But if his sons abandon my laws and

do not follow my ordinances,

31if they profane my statutes;

and do not keep my commands,

32then I will punish their disobedience with a rod

and their iniquity with lashes.

33But I will not cut offt my gracious love from him,

and I will not stop being faithful.

34I will not dishonor my covenant,

because I will not change what I have spoken.u

35I have sworn by my holiness once for all:

I will not lie to David.

36His dynastyv will last forever

and his throne will be like the sun before me.

37It will be established forever like the moon,

a faithful witness in the sky.”

Interlude

A Commitment to Persevere

38But you have spurned, rejected,

and became angry with your anointed one.

39You have dishonored the covenant with your servant;

you have defiled his crown on the ground.

40You have broken through all hisw walls;

you have laid his fortresses in ruin.

41All who pass by on their way plunder him;

he has become a reproach to his neighbors.

42You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries;

you have caused all of his enemies to rejoice.

43Moreover, you have turned back the edge of his sword

and did not support him in battle.

44You have caused his splendorx to cease

and cast down his throne to the ground.

45You have caused the days of his youth to be cut short;

you have covered him with shame.

Interlude

46How long, LORD, will you hide yourself? Forever?

Will your anger continuously burn like fire?

47Remember how short my lifetime is!

How powerless have you created all human beings!y

48What valiant man can live and not see death?

Who can deliver himselfz from the poweraa of Sheol.bb

Interlude

49Where is your gracious love of old, Lord,

that in your faithfulness you promised to David?

50Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servant!

I carry inside me all the insults of many people,

51when your enemies reproached you, LORD,

when they reproached the footstepscc of your anointed.

52Blessed is the LORD forever!

Amen and amen!