A contemplation by Ethan, the Ezrahite.

• ¹I will sing of the loving kindness of Yahweh forever.
• With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.

• ²I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever.
• You established the heavens.
• Your faithfulness is in them.”

• ³“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
• I have sworn to David, my servant,

• ⁴‘I will establish your seed forever,
• and build up your throne to all generations.’”

• Selah.

• ⁵The heavens will praise your wonders, Yahweh;
• your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.

• ⁶For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh?
• Who among the sons of the heavenly beings is like Yahweh,

• ⁷a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones,
• to be feared above all those who are around him?

• ⁸Yahweh, God of Armies, who is a mighty one, like you?
• Yah, your faithfulness is around you.

• ⁹You rule the pride of the sea.
• When its waves rise up, you calm them.

• ¹⁰You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain.
• You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

• ¹¹The heavens are yours.
• The earth also is yours;
• the world and its fullness.
• You have founded them.

• ¹²The north and the south, you have created them.
• Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.

• ¹³You have a mighty arm.
• Your hand is strong, and your right hand is exalted.

• ¹⁴Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
• Loving kindness and truth go before your face.

• ¹⁵Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you.
• They walk in the light of your presence, Yahweh.

• ¹⁶In your name they rejoice all day.
• In your righteousness, they are exalted.

• ¹⁷For you are the glory of their strength.
• In your favor, our horn will be exalted.

• ¹⁸For our shield belongs to Yahweh;
• our king to the Holy One of Israel.

• ¹⁹Then you spoke in vision to your saints,
• and said, “I have bestowed strength on the warrior.
• I have exalted a young man from the people.

• ²⁰I have found David, my servant.
• I have anointed him with my holy oil,

• ²¹with whom my hand shall be established.
• My arm will also strengthen him.

• ²²No enemy will tax him.
• No wicked man will oppress him.

• ²³I will beat down his adversaries before him,
• and strike those who hate him.

• ²⁴But my faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him.
• In my name, his horn will be exalted.

• ²⁵I will set his hand also on the sea,
• and his right hand on the rivers.

• ²⁶He will call to me, ‘You are my Father,
• my God, and the rock of my salvation!’

• ²⁷I will also appoint him my firstborn,
• the highest of the kings of the earth.

• ²⁸I will keep my loving kindness for him forevermore.
• My covenant will stand firm with him.

• ²⁹I will also make his seed endure forever,
• and his throne as the days of heaven.

• ³⁰If his children forsake my law,
• and don’t walk in my ordinances;

• ³¹if they break my statutes,
• and don’t keep my commandments;

• ³²then I will punish their sin with the rod,
• and their iniquity with stripes.

• ³³But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him,
• nor allow my faithfulness to fail.

• ³⁴I will not break my covenant,
• nor alter what my lips have uttered.

• ³⁵Once have I sworn by my holiness,
• I will not lie to David.

• ³⁶His seed will endure forever,
• his throne like the sun before me.

• ³⁷It will be established forever like the moon,
• the faithful witness in the sky.”

• Selah.

• ³⁸But you have rejected and spurned.
• You have been angry with your anointed.

• ³⁹You have renounced the covenant of your servant.
• You have defiled his crown in the dust.

• ⁴⁰You have broken down all his hedges.
• You have brought his strongholds to ruin.

• ⁴¹All who pass by the way rob him.

• He has become a reproach to his neighbors.

• ⁴²You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries.
• You have made all of his enemies rejoice.

• ⁴³Yes, you turn back the edge of his sword,
• and haven’t supported him in battle.

• ⁴⁴You have ended his splendor,
• and thrown his throne down to the ground.

• ⁴⁵You have shortened the days of his youth.
• You have covered him with shame.

• Selah.

• ⁴⁶How long, Yahweh?
• Will you hide yourself forever?
• Will your wrath burn like fire?

• ⁴⁷Remember how short my time is!
• For what vanity have you created all the children of men!

• ⁴⁸What man is he who shall live and not see death,
• who shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol *Sheol is the place of the dead.?

• Selah.

• ⁴⁹Lord, where are your former loving kindnesses,
• which you swore to David in your faithfulness?

• ⁵⁰Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants,
• how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the mighty peoples,

• ⁵¹With which your enemies have mocked, Yahweh,
• with which they have mocked the footsteps of your anointed one.

• ⁵²Blessed be Yahweh forevermore.

• Amen, and Amen.

BOOK IV