Chapter 88
O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before Thee: 2 Let my prayer come before Thee: incline Thine ear unto my cry;
3 For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draws nigh unto the grave. 4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that has no strength: 5 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom Thou remember no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. 6 Thou have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. 7 Thy wrath lies hard upon me, and Thou have afflicted me with all Thy waves. Selah. 8 Thou have put away mine acquaintance far from me; Thou have made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. 9 mine eye mourns by reason of affliction: Lord, I have called daily upon Thee, I have stretched out my hands unto Thee.
10 Will Thou show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise Thee? Selah. 11 Shall Thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or Thy faithfulness in destruction? 12 Shall Thy wonders be known in the dark? and Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
13 But unto Thee have I cried, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
14 Lord, why cast Thou off my soul? why hide Thou Thy face from me? 15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer Thy terrors I am distracted. 16 Thy fierce wrath goes over me; Thy terrors have cut me off. 17 They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together. 18 Lover and friend have Thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.
Chapter 89
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever: with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations. 2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever: Thy faithfulness shall Thou establish in the very heavens.
3 I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn unto David My servant, 4 Thy seed will I establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
5 And the heavens shall praise Thy wonders, O Lord: Thy Faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. 6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? 7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him. 8 O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto Thee? or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee? 9 Thou rule the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, Thou still them. 10 Thou have broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; Thou have scattered Thine enemies with Thy strong arm. 11 The heavens are Thine, the earth also is Thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, Thou have founded them. 12 The north and the south Thou have created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in Thy name. 13 Thou have a mighty arm: strong is Thy hand, and high is Thy right hand. 14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.
15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance. 16 In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted. 17 For Thou are the Glory of their strength: and in Thy Favor our horn shall be exalted. 18 For the Lord is our defense; and the Holy One of Israel is our King.
19 Then Thou spake in vision to Thy holy one, and said, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. 20 I have found David My servant; with My holy oil have I anointed him: 21 With whom My hand shall be established: Mine arm also shall strengthen him. 22 The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. 23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. 24 But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him: and in My name shall his horn be exalted. 25 I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. 26 He shall cry unto Me, Thou are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. 27 Also I will make him My firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. 28 My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and My covenant shall stand fast with him. 29 His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
30 If his children forsake My law, and walk not in My judgments; 31 If they break My statutes, and keep not My commandments; 32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. 33 Nevertheless My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail. 34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips. 35 Once have I sworn by My holiness that I will not lie unto David. 36 His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me. 37 It shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.
38 But Thou have cast off and abhorred, Thou have been wroth with Thine anointed. 39 Thou have made void the covenant of Thy servant: Thou have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. 40 Thou have broken down all his hedges; Thou have brought his strongholds to ruin. 41 All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbors. 42 Thou have set up the right hand of his adversaries; Thou have made all his enemies to rejoice. 43 Thou have also turned the edge of his sword, and have not made him to stand in the battle. 44 Thou have made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground. 45 The days of his youth have Thou shortened: Thou have covered him with shame. Selah.
46 How long, Lord? will Thou hide Thyself forever? shall Thy wrath burn like fire? 47 Remember how short my time is: wherefore have thou made all men in vain? 48 What man is he that lives, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah. 49 Lord, where are Thy former loving-kindnesses, which Thou sware unto David in Thy truth? 50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of Thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people; 51 Wherewith Thine enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of Thine anointed.
52 Blessed be the Lord forevermore. Amen, and Amen.
Chapter 90
Lord, Thou have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou are God.
3 Thou turn man to destruction; and say, Return, ye children of men. 4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. 5 Thou carried them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which grows up. 6 In the morning it flourishes, and grows up; in the evening it is cut down, and withers.
7 For we are consumed by Thine anger, and by Thy wrath are we troubled. 8 Thou have set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance. 9 For all our days are passed away in Thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. 10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11 Who knows the power of Thine anger? even according to Thy fear, so is Thy wrath. 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
13 Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent Thee concerning Thy servants. 14 O satisfy us early with Thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad according to the days wherein Thou has afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. 16 Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy glory unto their children. 17 And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it.
