Psalms 89

I will sing about the LORD's faithful love forever. With my mouth I will tell every generation how faithful you are.

1I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

Note"LORD" in capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew consonants often written Yahweh; Jewish readers did not pronounce it, saying "the Lord" instead, and English Bibles keep that custom by printing the title in capitals. The word behind "faithful love" is *hesed*, meaning loyalty and generosity owed inside a binding relationship, closer to "sworn commitment" than to warm feeling.

2For I have said, "Your faithful love stands firm forever. You have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens."

2For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.

3You said, "I have made an agreement with the man I chose. I have promised under oath to David, my servant:

3I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,

NoteA covenant was a formal, binding agreement sealed by an oath, the same instrument used between kings and their subject rulers. The agreement referred to here is the promise made to David that his descendants would rule permanently, reported in 2 Samuel 7.

4'I will make your descendants last forever, and I will build up your throne so it stands for all generations.'" Selah

4Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

Note"Selah" appears seventy-one times in the Psalms and nobody now knows what it meant. It is probably a direction to the musicians (a pause, a louder passage, or a change of instrument), rather than a word to be read aloud.

5The heavens praise the wonderful things you do, LORD. They praise your faithfulness too, in the gathering of your holy ones.

5And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.

Note"Saints" in 1611 English simply meant "holy ones" and carried none of the later sense of canonized human beings. Here, as in verse 7, it refers to the heavenly beings gathered around God.

6For who up in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD?

6For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?

Note"Sons of the mighty" translates a Hebrew phrase literally meaning "sons of gods", a standard idiom for members of a class, so "divine beings" rather than offspring. Israel's poets pictured God presiding over a court of such beings, much as surrounding peoples pictured their high god, but the point being made is that none of them are comparable to him.

7In the council of the holy ones, God is greatly feared. He is more awesome than all who stand around him.

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.

8LORD God of the armies of heaven, who is as strong as you are? Your faithfulness surrounds you on every side.

8O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?

Note"LORD of hosts" is a military title: the hosts are massed armies, understood as the heavenly ranks under God's command.

9You rule the raging sea. When its waves rise up, you calm them down.

9Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.

NoteIn the poetry of Israel and its neighbors, the sea stands for untamed, hostile chaos. Mastering it is the standard image for a god establishing order over the world.

10You crushed Rahab into pieces, like a body killed in battle. With your strong arm you scattered your enemies.

10Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.

NoteRahab here is not the woman of Joshua 2. It is the name of a monster of the sea in ancient Near Eastern poetry, and elsewhere in the Bible a mocking nickname for Egypt. Either sense fits: a defeated chaos-beast, or the power crushed at the Exodus.

11The heavens belong to you, and the earth belongs to you as well. You made the world and everything in it.

11The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.

12You created the north and the south. Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon shout for joy at your name.

12The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.

NoteTabor is a rounded hill west of the Jordan; Hermon is the snow-capped mountain range at Israel's northern edge. Naming two well-known landmarks is a way of saying that the whole visible land joins in.

13Your arm is mighty. Your hand is strong. Your right hand is lifted high.

13Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

NoteThe right hand was the sword hand and the place of honor, so "right hand" throughout this psalm means effective power, not a body part.

14Justice and fairness are the foundation your throne rests on. Faithful love and truth go ahead of you wherever you go.

14Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

NotePoetic picture of a royal court: justice and fairness are the platform the king's throne stands on, and faithful love and truth are the attendants who walk ahead of him in procession.

15Happy are the people who know the joyful shout. LORD, they walk in the light of your face.

15Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.

Note"The joyful sound" is a technical term, *teruah*, the ringing shout and ram's-horn blast raised at festivals and at the appearing of a king. To "know" it means to belong to the people who have the right to make it. "The light of your face" is court language for a ruler's favorable attention; a turned-away face meant disfavour.

16All day long they are glad because of your name. Your goodness lifts them high.

16In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.

17For you are the glory of their strength, and by your kindness our horn is lifted high.

17For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.

NoteThe horn is the horn of a bull or ram, the animal's weapon and its display of strength. "Lifting the horn" was the ordinary Hebrew image for giving someone power and standing; lowering or cutting it off meant humiliation.

18The LORD is our shield, and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

18For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

Note"Shield" was a common title for a king, the man who covered his people in battle. The Hebrew line can be read either as "our shield belongs to the LORD" or as "the LORD is our shield"; both readings are old, and the sense of the pairing with the second half is that Israel's king is held by God.

19Long ago you spoke in a vision to your faithful ones. You said, "I have given help to a strong warrior. I have raised up a man I chose from among the people.

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.

NoteThe vision is the prophecy delivered to David through the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 7). Hebrew manuscripts differ over whether the words were spoken to "your faithful one" (the prophet, or David) or "your faithful ones" (the people), and translations divide accordingly.

20I have found David, my servant. I have poured my holy oil on him.

20I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

NotePouring perfumed oil on a man's head was the public ceremony that installed him in office, king or priest. The oil was reserved for sacred use, which is why it is called holy. The Hebrew word for a man so treated is *mashiach*, "anointed one," the source of the English word Messiah; in this psalm it means the reigning king of David's line.

21My hand will hold him up. My arm will make him strong.

21With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.

22No enemy will force payments out of him. No wicked man will crush him.

22The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

NoteThe picture is of a defeated ruler forced to hand over tribute, regular payments extracted by a stronger king. The promise is that David's line will never be reduced to that position.

23I will crush his enemies right in front of him and strike down those who hate him.

23And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.

24My faithfulness and my faithful love will be with him. Through my name his horn will be lifted high.

24But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

25I will set his hand over the sea and his right hand over the rivers.

25I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.

Note"The sea" and "the rivers" describe the outer limits of the promised territory, from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates. The same two words are also the names of the chaos powers defeated in older Near Eastern poetry, so the line carries a second sound of mastery over hostile forces.

26He will call out to me, 'You are my father, my God, the rock where I am safe.'

26He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.

Note"Rock" was a standard word for a place of refuge (a crag a fugitive could not be dislodged from), rather than a comment on hardness or reliability.

27And I will make him my firstborn son, the highest of all the kings of the earth.

27Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.

NoteIn the ancient world the firstborn son held first rank in the family and received the largest share. Kings across the region were formally adopted as a god's son at their coronation; "firstborn" here is that legal language of rank, placing this king above all other kings, and not a statement about birth order.

28I will keep my faithful love for him forever. My agreement with him will hold firm.

28My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

29I will make his family line last forever, and his throne will last as long as the heavens.

29His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

30If his children turn away from my teaching and do not live by my rules,

30If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;

31if they break my laws and do not keep my commands,

31If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;

32then I will punish their sin with a rod and their wrongdoing with beatings.

32Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

NoteThe rod is the stick a father used on a son, and "stripes" are the marks left by blows. The image is deliberately domestic: correction inside a family, not the destruction of an enemy.

33But I will not take my faithful love away from him completely, and I will not let my faithfulness fail.

33Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.

34I will not break my agreement or change what my lips have already spoken.

34My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

35Once and for all I have sworn by my own holiness: I will not lie to David.

35Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

NoteAn oath was sworn by something greater than the person swearing, which could not be put at risk lightly. God is pictured as having nothing greater to swear by, so he stakes his own holiness, the last possible guarantee.

36His family line will last forever, and his throne will last in front of me like the sun.

36His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

37It will stand firm forever like the moon, that faithful witness in the sky." Selah

37It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

NoteSun and moon were the fixed public timekeepers, visible to everyone and reliably returning. "A faithful witness in the sky" most likely describes the moon itself as the standing witness to the promise, though the Hebrew allows it to name a separate witness in heaven.

38But now you have rejected him and turned away from him in disgust. You are furious with the king you chose and anointed.

38But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.

Note"Your anointed" is the same word as in verse 20, the king installed with oil. From here to verse 45 the psalm turns from quoting the promise to describing the disaster that seems to contradict it.

39You have thrown away the agreement you made with your servant. You have thrown his crown to the ground and treated it as worthless.

39Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.

NoteThe word for crown is the consecrated headband placed on a king at his installation, an object treated as holy. Throwing it in the dust is the deliberate reversal of that ceremony.

40You have broken down all the walls that protected him. You have turned his strong forts into piles of rubble.

40Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin.

NoteThe image is a vineyard or a walled town: first the boundary walls come down, then the fortified strongholds. Once the walls are gone, anyone walking past can help themselves, hence the looting in the next verse.

41Everyone who passes by robs him. His neighbors look down on him.

41All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbours.

42You have raised up the right hand of his enemies. You have made all his enemies glad.

42Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.

43You have turned back the sharp edge of his sword. You did not help him hold his ground in battle.

43Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.

NoteThe Hebrew says the "rock" of his sword was turned back, the flint-hard cutting edge. The sword no longer bites.

44You have put an end to his splendor and thrown his throne down to the ground.

44Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground.

45You have cut short the days of his youth. You have covered him with shame. Selah

45The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.

46How long, LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? Will your anger keep burning like fire?

46How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?

47Remember how short my life is. Why have you made all people for so little?

47Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?

NoteThis verse is difficult in Hebrew and translations differ over whether the speaker is asking why God made humanity so fleeting, or protesting that human life has been made pointless. Both readings are represented in standard versions.

48What person can live and never see death? Can anyone rescue himself from the power of the grave? Selah

48What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

Note"The grave" translates *Sheol*, the underworld where the Hebrew Bible pictures all the dead going, good and bad alike, a place of shadowy inactivity rather than reward or punishment.

49Lord, where is the faithful love you showed long ago, which you swore to David because you are true?

49Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?

50Remember, Lord, how your servants are insulted. I carry in my heart the insults of so many peoples.

50Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people;

NoteCarrying something "in the bosom" means carrying it in the fold of the robe above the belt, where a person kept what they had to bear about with them. The second half of the line is obscure in Hebrew; it may mean the taunts of many peoples, or the burden of all those peoples in one's heart.

51These are the insults your enemies have thrown, LORD. They have mocked every step of the king you anointed.

51Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.

Note"The footsteps of your anointed" means each move the king makes as he goes, every step is jeered at. Some ancient readers instead took the phrase to mean the delayed footsteps of the promised king, that is, mockery at how long he takes to arrive.

52Blessed be the LORD forever. Amen and amen.

52Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.

NoteThis line is not part of the poem. The book of Psalms is divided into five collections, and a short blessing like this one marks the end of each; here it closes the third collection, Psalms 73–89. "Amen" is a Hebrew word meaning "it is firm" or "let it stand," said by a congregation to endorse what has just been spoken.