✧Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite. I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. ✧2For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. ✧3I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, ✧4Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah. ✧5And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. ✧6For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? [who] among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? ✧7God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all [them that are] about him. ✧8O LORD God of hosts, who [is] a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? ✧9Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. ✧10Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. ✧11The heavens [are] thine, the earth also [is] thine: [as for] the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them. ✧12The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name. ✧13Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, [and] high is thy right hand. ✧14Justice and judgment [are] the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face. ✧15Blessed [is] the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance. ✧16In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. ✧17For thou [art] the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted. ✧18For the LORD [is] our defence; and the Holy One of Israel [is] our king. ✧19Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon [one that is] mighty; I have exalted [one] chosen out of the people. ✧20I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: ✧21With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him. ✧22The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. ✧23And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him. ✧24But my faithfulness and my mercy [shall be] with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted. ✧25I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. ✧26He shall cry unto me, Thou [art] my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. ✧27Also I will make him [my] firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. ✧28My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. ✧29His seed also will I make [to endure] for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. ✧30If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; ✧31If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; ✧32Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. ✧33Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. ✧34My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. ✧35Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. ✧36His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. ✧37It shall be established for ever as the moon, and [as] a faithful witness in heaven. Selah. ✧38But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed. ✧39Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown [by casting it] to the ground. ✧40Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin. ✧41All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbours. ✧42Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice. ✧43Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle. ✧44Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground. ✧45The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame. Selah. ✧46How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire? ✧47Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? ✧48What man [is he that] liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah. ✧49Lord, where [are] thy former lovingkindnesses, [which] thou swarest unto David in thy truth? ✧50Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; [how] I do bear in my bosom [the reproach of] all the mighty people; ✧51Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed. ✧52Blessed [be] the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.