✧A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite. I will sing of the loving devotion of the LORD forever; with my mouth I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations. ✧2For I have said, “Loving devotion is built up forever; in the heavens You establish Your faithfulness.” ✧3You said, “I have made a covenant with My chosen one, I have sworn to David My servant: ✧4‘I will establish your offspring forever and build up your throne for all generations.’” Selah ✧5The heavens praise Your wonders, O LORD— Your faithfulness as well— in the assembly of the holy ones. ✧6For who in the skies can compare with the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD? ✧7In the council of the holy ones, God is greatly feared, and awesome above all who surround Him. ✧8O LORD God of Hosts, who is like You? O mighty LORD, Your faithfulness surrounds You. ✧9You rule the raging sea; when its waves mount up, You still them. ✧10You crushed Rahab like a carcass; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm. ✧11The heavens are Yours, and also the earth. The earth and its fullness You founded. ✧12North and south You created; Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name. ✧13Mighty is Your arm; strong is Your hand. Your right hand is exalted. ✧14Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; loving devotion and faithfulness go before You. ✧15Blessed are those who know the joyful sound, who walk, O LORD, in the light of Your presence. ✧16They rejoice in Your name all day long, and in Your righteousness they exult. ✧17For You are the glory of their strength, and by Your favor our horn is exalted. ✧18Surely our shield belongs to the LORD, and our king to the Holy One of Israel. ✧19You once spoke in a vision; to Your godly ones You said, “I have bestowed help on a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people. ✧20I have found My servant David; with My sacred oil I have anointed him. ✧21My hand will sustain him; surely My arm will strengthen him. ✧22No enemy will exact tribute; no wicked man will oppress him. ✧23I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. ✧24My faithfulness and loving devotion will be with him, and through My name his horn will be exalted. ✧25I will set his hand over the sea, and his right hand upon the rivers. ✧26He will call to Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock of my salvation.’ ✧27I will indeed appoint him as My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. ✧28I will forever preserve My loving devotion for him, and My covenant with him will stand fast. ✧29I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure. ✧30If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, ✧31if they violate My statutes and fail to keep My commandments, ✧32I will attend to their transgression with the rod, and to their iniquity with stripes. ✧33But I will not withdraw My loving devotion from him, nor ever betray My faithfulness. ✧34I will not violate My covenant or alter the utterance of My lips. ✧35Once and for all I have sworn by My holiness— I will not lie to David— ✧36his offspring shall endure forever, and his throne before Me like the sun, ✧37like the moon, established forever, a faithful witness in the sky.” Selah ✧38Now, however, You have spurned and rejected him; You are enraged by Your anointed one. ✧39You have renounced the covenant with Your servant and sullied his crown in the dust. ✧40You have broken down all his walls; You have reduced his strongholds to rubble. ✧41All who pass by plunder him; he has become a reproach to his neighbors. ✧42You have exalted the right hand of his foes; You have made all his enemies rejoice. ✧43You have bent the edge of his sword and have not sustained him in battle. ✧44You have ended his splendor and cast his throne to the ground. ✧45You have cut short the days of his youth; You have covered him with shame. Selah ✧46How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath keep burning like fire? ✧47Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men! ✧48What man can live and never see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah ✧49Where, O Lord, is Your loving devotion of old, which You faithfully swore to David? ✧50Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants, which I bear in my heart from so many people— ✧51how Your enemies have taunted, O LORD, and have mocked every step of Your anointed one! ✧52Blessed be the LORD forever! Amen and amen.