Psalm 89

PERPLEXITY ABOUT GOD’S PROMISES
A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

Iwill sing about the Lord’s faithful love forever;
I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations
with my mouth.
2 For I will declare,
“Faithful love is built up forever;
you establish your faithfulness in the heavens.”
3 The Lord said,
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn an oath to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever
and build up your throne for all generations.’ ” Selah
5 Lord, the heavens praise your wonders —
your faithfulness also —
in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can compare with the Lord?
Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord?
7 God is greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,
more awe-inspiring than all who surround him.
8 Lord God of Armies,
who is strong like you, Lord?
Your faithfulness surrounds you.
9 You rule the raging sea;
when its waves surge, you still them.
10 You crushed Rahab like one who is slain;
you scattered your enemies with your powerful arm.
11 The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours.
The world and everything in it ​— ​you founded them.
12 North and south ​— ​you created them.
Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at your name.
13 You have a mighty arm;
your hand is powerful;
your right hand is lifted high.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation
of your throne;
faithful love and truth go before you.
15 Happy are the people who know the joyful shout;
Lord, they walk in the light from your face.
16 They rejoice in your name all day long,
and they are exalted by your righteousness.
17 For you are their magnificent strength;
by your favor our horn is exalted.
18 Surely our shield belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19 You once spoke in a vision to your faithful ones
and said, “I have granted help to a warrior;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
20 I have found David my servant;
I have anointed him with my sacred oil.
21 My hand will always be with him,
and my arm will strengthen him.
22 The enemy will not oppress him;
the wicked will not afflict him.
23 I will crush his foes before him
and strike those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and love will be with him,
and through my name
his horn will be exalted.
25 I will extend his power to the sea
and his right hand to the rivers.
26 He will call to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, the rock of my salvation.’
27 I will also make him my firstborn,
greatest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will always preserve my faithful love for him,
and my covenant with him will endure.
29 I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as heaven lasts.
30 If his sons abandon my instruction
and do not live by my ordinances,
31 if they dishonor my statutes
and do not keep my commands,
32 then I will call their rebellion
to account with the rod,
their iniquity with blows.
33 But I will not withdraw
my faithful love from him
or betray my faithfulness.
34 I will not violate my covenant
or change what my lips have said.
35 Once and for all
I have sworn an oath by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
36 His offspring will continue forever,
his throne like the sun before me,
37 like the moon, established forever,
a faithful witness in the sky.” Selah
38 But you have spurned and rejected him;
you have become enraged with your anointed.
39 You have repudiated the covenant with your servant;
you have completely dishonored his crown.
40 You have broken down all his walls;
you have reduced his fortified cities to ruins.
41 All who pass by plunder him;
he has become an object of ridicule
to his neighbors.
42 You have lifted high the right hand of his foes;
you have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 You have also turned back his sharp sword
and have not let him stand in battle.
44 You have made his splendor cease
and have overturned his throne.
45 You have shortened the days of his youth;
you have covered him with shame. Selah
46 How long, Lord? Will you hide forever?
Will your anger keep burning like fire?
47 Remember how short my life is.
Have you created everyone for nothing?
48 What courageous person can live and never see death?
Who can save himself from the power of Sheol? Selah
49 Lord, where are the former acts of your faithful love
that you swore to David in your faithfulness?
50 Remember, Lord, the ridicule against your servants —
in my heart I carry abuse from all the peoples —
51 how your enemies have ridiculed, Lord,
how they have ridiculed every step of your anointed.
52 Blessed be the Lord forever.
Amen and amen.

Psalm 96

KING OF THE EARTH
Sing a new song to the Lord;
let the whole earth sing to the Lord.
2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
proclaim his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his wondrous works among all peoples.
4 For the Lord is great and is highly praised;
he is feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;
bring an offering and enter his courts.
9 Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness;
let the whole earth tremble before him.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.
The world is firmly established; it cannot be shaken.
He judges the peoples fairly.”
11 Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and all that fills it resound.
12 Let the fields and everything in them celebrate.
Then all the trees of the forest will shout for joy
13 before the Lord, for he is coming —
for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness
and the peoples with his faithfulness.

Psalm 100

BE THANKFUL
A psalm of thanksgiving.

Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God.
He made us, and we are his —
his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
5 For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever;
his faithfulness, through all generations.

Psalm 101

A VOW OF INTEGRITY
A psalm of David.

Iwill sing of faithful love and justice;
I will sing praise to you, Lord.
2 I will pay attention to the way of integrity.
When will you come to me?
I will live with a heart of integrity in my house.
3 I will not let anything worthless guide me.
I hate the practice of transgression;
it will not cling to me.
4 A devious heart will be far from me;
I will not be involved with evil.
5 I will destroy anyone
who secretly slanders his neighbor;
I cannot tolerate anyone
with haughty eyes or an arrogant heart.
6 My eyes favor the faithful of the land
so that they may sit down with me.
The one who follows the way of integrity
may serve me.
7 No one who acts deceitfully
will live in my palace;
the one who tells lies
will not be retained here to guide me.
8 Every morning I will destroy
all the wicked of the land,
wiping out all evildoers from the Lord’s city.

Psalm 107

THANKSGIVING FOR GOD’S DELIVERANCE
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his faithful love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim
that he has redeemed them from the power of the foe
3 and has gathered them from the lands —
from the east and the west,
from the north and the south.
4 Some wandered in the desolate wilderness,
finding no way to a city where they could live.
5 They were hungry and thirsty;
their spirits failed within them.
6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
he rescued them from their distress.
7 He led them by the right path
to go to a city where they could live.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord
for his faithful love
and his wondrous works for all humanity.
9 For he has satisfied the thirsty
and filled the hungry with good things.
10 Others sat in darkness and gloom —
prisoners in cruel chains —
11 because they rebelled against God’s commands
and despised the counsel of the Most High.
12 He broke their spirits with hard labor;
they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
13 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
he saved them from their distress.
14 He brought them out of darkness and gloom
and broke their chains apart.
15 Let them give thanks to the Lord
for his faithful love
and his wondrous works for all humanity.
16 For he has broken down the bronze gates
and cut through the iron bars.
17 Fools suffered affliction
because of their rebellious ways and their iniquities.
18 They loathed all food
and came near the gates of death.
19 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
he saved them from their distress.
20 He sent his word and healed them;
he rescued them from their traps.
21 Let them give thanks to the Lord
for his faithful love
and his wondrous works for all humanity.
22 Let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices
and announce his works with shouts of joy.
23 Others went to sea in ships,
conducting trade on the vast water.
24 They saw the Lord’s works,
his wondrous works in the deep.
25 He spoke and raised a stormy wind
that stirred up the waves of the sea.
26 Rising up to the sky, sinking down to the depths,
their courage melting away in anguish,
27 they reeled and staggered like a drunkard,
and all their skill was useless.
28 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress.
29 He stilled the storm to a whisper,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
30 They rejoiced when the waves grew quiet.
Then he guided them to the harbor they longed for.
31 Let them give thanks to the Lord
for his faithful love
and his wondrous works for all humanity.
32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
and praise him in the council of the elders.
33 He turns rivers into desert,
springs into thirsty ground,
34 and fruitful land into salty wasteland,
because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a desert into a pool,
dry land into springs.
36 He causes the hungry to settle there,
and they establish a city where they can live.
37 They sow fields and plant vineyards
that yield a fruitful harvest.
38 He blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
he does not let their livestock decrease.
39 When they are diminished and are humbled
by cruel oppression and sorrow,
40 he pours contempt on nobles
and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.
41 But he lifts the needy out of their suffering
and makes their families multiply like flocks.
42 The upright see it and rejoice,
and all injustice shuts its mouth.
43 Let whoever is wise pay attention to these things
and consider the Lord’s acts of faithful love.

— Psalms 89; 96; 100; 101; 107 (CSB)