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¹A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of Ethan the Ezrahite. I will sing of the goodness and lovingkindness of the LORD forever; With my mouth I will make known Your faithfulness from generation to generation.

²For I have said, "Goodness and lovingkindness will be built up forever; In the heavens [unchangeable and majestic] You will establish Your faithfulness."

³[God has said] "I have made a covenant with My chosen one; I have sworn to David My servant,

⁴I will establish your seed forever And I will build up your throne for all generations." Selah.

⁵The heavens (angels) praise Your wonders, O LORD, Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.

⁶For who in the heavens can be compared to the LORD? Who among the divine beings is like the LORD,

⁷A God greatly feared and reverently worshiped in the council of the holy [angelic] ones, And awesome above all those who are around Him?

⁸O LORD God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty LORD? Your faithfulness surrounds You [as an intrinsic, unchangeable part of Your very being].

⁹You rule the swelling of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them.

¹⁰You have crushed Rahab (Egypt) like one who is slain; You have scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.

¹¹The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all that is in it, You have founded and established them.

¹²The north and the south, You have created them; Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon shout for joy at Your name.

¹³You have a strong arm; Mighty is Your hand, Your right hand is exalted.

¹⁴Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.

¹⁵Blessed and happy are the people who know the joyful sound [of the trumpet's blast]! They walk, O LORD, in the light and favor of Your countenance!

¹⁶In Your name they rejoice all the day, And in Your righteousness they are exalted.

¹⁷For You are the glory of their strength [their proud adornment], And by Your favor our horn is exalted.

¹⁸For our shield belongs to the LORD, And our king to the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁹Once You spoke in a vision to Your godly ones, And said, "I have given help to one who is mighty [giving him the power to be a champion for Israel]; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

²⁰"I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him,

²¹With whom My hand shall be established and steadfast; My arm also shall strengthen him.

²²"The enemy will not outwit him, Nor will the wicked man afflict or humiliate him.

²³"I will crush his adversaries before him, And strike those who hate him.

²⁴"My faithfulness and My steadfast lovingkindness shall be with him, And in My name shall his horn be exalted [great power and prosperity shall be conferred upon him].

²⁵"I will also set his hand on the [Mediterranean] sea, And his right hand on the rivers [the tributaries of the Euphrates].

²⁶"He will cry to Me, 'You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.'

²⁷"I will also make him My firstborn (preeminent), The highest of the kings of the earth.

²⁸"My lovingkindness I will keep for him forevermore, And My covenant will be confirmed to him.

²⁹"His descendants I will establish forever, And his throne [will endure] as the days of heaven.

³⁰"If his children turn away from My law And do not walk in My ordinances,

³¹If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments,

³²Then I will punish their transgression with the rod [of discipline], And [correct] their wickedness with stripes.

³³"Nevertheless, I will not break off My lovingkindness from him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail.

³⁴"My covenant I will not violate, Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.

³⁵"Once [for all] I have sworn by My holiness, [My vow which cannot be violated]; I will not lie to David.

³⁶"His descendants shall endure forever And his throne [will continue] as the sun before Me.

³⁷"It shall be established forever like the moon, And the witness in the heavens is ever faithful." Selah.

³⁸But [in apparent contradiction of all this] You [the faithful LORD] have cast off and rejected; You have been full of wrath against Your anointed.

³⁹You have spurned and repudiated the covenant with Your servant; You have profaned his crown [by casting it] in the dust.

⁴⁰You have broken down all his [city] walls; You have brought his strongholds to ruin.

⁴¹All who pass along the road rob him; He has become the scorn of his neighbors.

⁴²You have exalted the right hand of his foes; You have made all his enemies rejoice.

⁴³Also, You have turned back the edge of his sword And have not made him [strong enough] to stand in battle.

⁴⁴You have put an end to his splendor And have hurled his throne to the ground.

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

⁴⁶How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire?

⁴⁷Remember how fleeting my lifetime is; For what vanity, [for what emptiness, for what futility, for what wisp of smoke] You have created all the sons of men!

⁴⁸What man can live and not see death? Can he rescue his soul from the [powerful] hand of Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead)? Selah.

⁴⁹O Lord, where are Your former lovingkindnesses [so abundant in the days of David and Solomon], Which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?

⁵⁰Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants [scorned, insulted, and disgraced]; How I bear in my heart the reproach of all the many peoples,

⁵¹With which Your enemies have taunted, O LORD, With which they have mocked the footsteps of Your anointed.

⁵²Blessed be the LORD forevermore! Amen and Amen.

¹A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, You have been our dwelling place [our refuge, our sanctuary, our stability] in all generations.

²Before the mountains were born Or before You had given birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are [the eternal] God.

³You turn man back to dust, And say, "Return [to the earth], O children of [mortal] men!"

⁴For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, Or as a watch in the night.

⁵You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep [forgotten as soon as they are gone]; In the morning they are like grass which grows anew—

⁶In the morning it flourishes and springs up; In the evening it wilts and withers away.

⁷For we have been consumed by Your anger And by Your wrath we have been terrified.

⁸You have placed our wickedness before you, Our secret sins [which we tried to conceal, You have placed] in the [revealing] light of Your presence.

⁹For all our days pass away in Your wrath; We have finished our years like a whispered sigh.

¹⁰The days of our life are seventy years— Or even, if because of strength, eighty years; Yet their pride [in additional years] is only labor and sorrow, For it is soon gone and we fly away.

¹¹Who understands the power of Your anger? [Who connects this brevity of life among us with Your judgment of sin?] And Your wrath, [who connects it] with the [reverent] fear that is due You?

¹²So teach us to number our days, That we may cultivate and bring to You a heart of wisdom.

¹³Turn, O LORD [from Your fierce anger]; how long will it be? Be compassionate toward Your servants—revoke Your sentence.

¹⁴O satisfy us with Your lovingkindness in the morning [now, before we grow older], That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

¹⁵Make us glad in proportion to the days You have afflicted us, And the years we have suffered evil.

¹⁶Let Your work [the signs of Your power] be revealed to Your servants And Your [glorious] majesty to their children.

¹⁷And let the [gracious] favor of the Lord our God be on us; Confirm for us the work of our hands— Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

¹He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty [whose power no enemy can withstand].

²I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust [with great confidence, and on whom I rely]!"

³For He will save you from the trap of the fowler, And from the deadly pestilence.

⁴He will cover you and completely protect you with His pinions, And under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and a wall.

⁵You will not be afraid of the terror of night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

⁶Nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Nor of the destruction (sudden death) that lays waste at noon.

⁷A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But danger will not come near you.

⁸You will only [be a spectator as you] look on with your eyes And witness the [divine] repayment of the wicked [as you watch safely from the shelter of the Most High].

⁹Because you have made the LORD, [who is] my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

¹⁰No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent.

¹¹For He will command His angels in regard to you, To protect and defend and guard you in all your ways [of obedience and service].

¹²They will lift you up in their hands, So that you do not [even] strike your foot against a stone.

¹³You will tread upon the lion and cobra; The young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

¹⁴"Because he set his love on Me, therefore I will save him; I will set him [securely] on high, because he knows My name [he confidently trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never abandon him, no, never].

¹⁵"He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.

¹⁶"With a long life I will satisfy him And I will let him see My salvation."

¹A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath day. It is a good and delightful thing to give thanks to the LORD, To sing praises to Your name, O Most High,

²To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning And Your faithfulness by night,

³With an instrument of ten strings and with the harp, With a solemn sound on the lyre.

⁴For You, O LORD, have made me glad by Your works; At the works of Your hands I joyfully sing.

⁵How great are Your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep [beyond man's understanding].

⁶A senseless man [in his crude and uncultivated state] knows nothing, Nor does a [self-righteous] fool understand this:

⁷That though the wicked sprout up like grass And all evildoers flourish, They will be destroyed forever.

⁸But You, LORD, are on high forever.

⁹For behold, Your enemies, O LORD, For behold, Your enemies will perish; All who do evil will be scattered.

¹⁰But my horn [my emblem of strength and power] You have exalted like that of a wild ox; I am anointed with fresh oil [for Your service].

¹¹My eye has looked on my foes; My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me.

¹²The righteous will flourish like the date palm [long-lived, upright and useful]; They will grow like a cedar in Lebanon [majestic and stable].

¹³Planted in the house of the LORD, They will flourish in the courts of our God.

¹⁴[Growing in grace] they will still thrive and bear fruit and prosper in old age; They will flourish and be vital and fresh [rich in trust and love and contentment];

¹⁵[They are living memorials] to declare that the LORD is upright and faithful [to His promises]; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

¹The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty and splendor; The LORD has clothed and encircled Himself with strength; the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved.

²Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.

³The floods have lifted up, O LORD, The floods have lifted up their voice; The floods lift up their pounding waves.

⁴More than the sounds of many waters, More than the mighty breakers of the sea, The LORD on high is mighty.

⁵Your precepts are fully confirmed and completely reliable; Holiness adorns Your house, O LORD, forever.

¹O LORD God, You to whom vengeance belongs, O God, You to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth [in judgment]!

²Rise up, O Judge of the earth; Give to the proud a fitting compensation.

³O LORD, how long will the wicked, How long will the wicked rejoice in triumph?

⁴They pour out words, speaking arrogant things; All who do evil boast proudly.

⁵They crush Your people, O LORD, And afflict and abuse Your heritage.

⁶They kill the widow and the alien And murder the fatherless.

⁷Yet they say, "The LORD does not see, Nor does the God of Jacob (Israel) notice it."

⁸Consider thoughtfully, you senseless (stupid ones) among the people; And you [dull-minded] fools, when will you become wise and understand?

⁹He who made the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does He not see?

¹⁰He who instructs the nations, Does He not rebuke and punish, He who teaches man knowledge?

¹¹The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are a mere breath (vain, empty, futile).

¹²Blessed [with wisdom and prosperity] is the man whom You discipline and instruct, O LORD, And whom You teach from Your law,

¹³That You may grant him [power to calm himself and find] peace in the days of adversity, Until the pit is dug for the wicked and ungodly.

¹⁴For the LORD will not abandon His people, Nor will He abandon His inheritance.

¹⁵For judgment will again be righteous, And all the upright in heart will follow it.

¹⁶Who will stand up for me against the evildoers? Who will take a stand for me against those who do wickedness?

¹⁷If the LORD had not been my help, I would soon have dwelt in [the land of] silence.

¹⁸If I say, "My foot has slipped," Your compassion and lovingkindness, O LORD, will hold me up.

¹⁹When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your comforts delight me.

²⁰Can a throne of destruction be allied with You, One which frames and devises mischief by decree [under the sacred name of law]?

²¹They band themselves together against the life of the righteous And condemn the innocent to death.

²²But the LORD has become my high tower and defense, And my God the rock of my refuge.

²³He has turned back their own wickedness upon them And will destroy them by means of their own evil; The LORD our God will wipe them out.