Psalms 88

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¹Of understanding, for Ethan the Ezrahite.

²The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. I will shew forth thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation.

³For thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens: thy truth shall be prepared in them.

⁴I have made a covenant with my elect: I have sworn to David my servant:

⁵Thy seed will I settle for ever. And I will build up thy throne unto generation and generation.

⁶The heavens shall confess thy wonders, O Lord: and thy truth in the church of the saints.

⁷For who in the clouds can be compared to the Lord: or who among the sons of God shall be like to God?

⁸God, who is glorified in the assembly of the saints: great and terrible above all them that are about him.

⁹O Lord God of hosts, who is like to thee? thou art mighty, O Lord, and thy truth is round about thee.

¹⁰Thou rulest the power of the sea: and appeasest the motion of the waves thereof.

¹¹Thou hast humbled the proud one, as one that is slain: with the arm of thy strength thou hast scattered thy enemies.

¹²Thine are the heavens, and thine is the earth: the world and the fulness thereof thou hast founded:

¹³The north and the sea thou hast created. Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name:

¹⁴Thy arm is with might. Let thy hand be strengthened, and thy right hand exalted:

¹⁵Justice and judgment are the preparation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face:

¹⁶Blessed is the people that knoweth jubilation. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance:

¹⁷And in thy name they shall rejoice all the day, and in thy justice they shall be exalted.

¹⁸For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy good pleasure shall our horn be exalted.

¹⁹For our protection is of the Lord, and of our king the holy one of Israel.

²⁰Then thou spokest in a vision to thy saints, and saidst: I have laid help upon one that is mighty, and have exalted one chosen out of my people.

²¹I have found David my servant: with my holy oil I have anointed him.

²²For my hand shall help him: and my arm shall strengthen him.

²³The enemy shall have no advantage over him: nor the son of iniquity have power to hurt him.

²⁴And I will cut down his enemies before his face; and them that hate him I will put to flight.

²⁵And my truth and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

²⁶And I will set his hand in the sea; and his right hand in the rivers.

²⁷He shall cry out to me: Thou art my father: my God, and the support of my salvation.

²⁸And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth.

²⁹I will keep my mercy for him for ever: and my covenant faithful to him.

³⁰And I will make his seed to endure for evermore: and his throne as the days of heaven.

³¹And if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments:

³²If they profane my justices: and keep not my commandments:

³³I will visit their iniquities with a rod and their sins with stripes.

³⁴But my mercy I will not take away from him: nor will I suffer my truth to fail.

³⁵Neither will I profane my covenant: and the words that proceed from my mouth I will not make void.

³⁶Once have I sworn by my holiness: I will not lie unto David:

³⁷His seed shall endure for ever.

³⁸And his throne as the sun before me: and as the moon perfect for ever, and a faithful witness in heaven.

³⁹But thou hast rejected and despised: thou hast been angry with my anointed.

⁴⁰Thou hast overthrown the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his sanctuary on the earth.

⁴¹Thou hast broken down all his hedges: thou hast made his strength fear.

⁴²All that pass by the way have robbed him: he is become a reproach to his neighbours.

⁴³Thou hast set up the right hand of them that oppress him: thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.

⁴⁴Thou hast turned away the help of his sword; and hast not assisted him in battle.

⁴⁵Thou hast made his purification to cease: and thou hast cast his throne down to the ground.

⁴⁶Thou hast shortened the days of his time: thou hast covered him with confusion.

⁴⁷How long, O Lord, turnest thou away unto the end? shall thy anger burn like fire?

⁴⁸Remember what my substance is: for hast thou made all the children of men in vain?

⁴⁹Who is the man that shall live, and not see death: that shall deliver his soul from the hand of hell?

⁵⁰Lord, where are thy ancient mercies, according to what thou didst swear to David in thy truth?

⁵¹Be mindful, O Lord, of the reproach of thy servants (which I have held in my bosom) of many nations:

⁵²Wherewith thy enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the change of thy anointed.

⁵³Blessed be the Lord for evermore. So be it. So be it.

Psalms 88

¹O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:

²Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;

³For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.

⁴I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:

⁵Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.

⁶Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

⁷Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.

⁸Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.

⁹Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.

¹⁰Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.

¹¹Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?

¹²Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

¹³But unto thee have I cried, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.

¹⁴Lord, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?

¹⁵I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.

¹⁶Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.

¹⁷They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.

¹⁸Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.