Psalms 89
89
Will You Reject Us Forever?
Poems by Ethan the Ezrahite for instruction # 89 Many scholars believe Ps. 89 contains four poems or stanzas. This translation signifies each poem with an inscription.
First Poem – God’s Promises to David
1This forever-song I sing # 89:1 The Hebrew word for “sing” has multiple homonyms. Shuwr can also mean “wall.” When we feel like we are up against a wall, it is time to sing and see ourselves break through by faith. But shuwr can also mean “to behold” or “to perceive.” As we sing to God in abandoned worship, we perceive that his glory is greater than the wall that stands before us. The root word of the word used here for “sing” is sur, which is also the same word used for “having dominion over.” So many times when we sing in worship, exalting the loving-kindness of God, we establish dominion over any thoughts that God might not be faithful or that he may fail us. Sing when you feel defeated and watch as the walls come down and you rise to take dominion over your foes. of the gentle love of God!
Young and old alike will hear about
your faithful, steadfast love—never failing!
2Here’s my chorus: “Your mercy grows through the ages. # 89:2 As translated from the Septuagint.
Your faithfulness is firm, rising up to the skies.”
3I heard the Lord say, “My covenant has been made,
and I’m committed forever to my chosen one, David.
4I have made my oath that there will be sons of David forever,
sons that are kings through every generation.”
Pause in his presence
5-6Can you hear it? Heaven is filled with your praises, O Lord!
All the holy ones are praising you for your miracles.
The sons of God are all praising you for your mighty wonders.
We could search the skies forever and never find one like you.
All the mighty angels could not be compared to you.
7You are a God who is greatly to be feared
as you preside over the council of holy ones.
You are surrounded by trembling ones
who are overwhelmed with fear and dread,
stunned as they stand in awe of you!
8So awesome are you, O Yahweh, Lord God of Angel Armies!
Where could we find anyone as glorious as you?
Your faithfulness shines all around you!
9You rule over oceans and the swelling seas.
When their stormy waves rise, you speak, and they lie still. # 89:9 This is a prophecy of Jesus, who would one day calm the stormy seas. See Matt. 8:23–27.
10You crushed the strongholds of Egypt,
and all your enemies were scattered
at the mighty display of your glory-power.
11All the heavens and everything on earth belong to you,
for you are the Creator of all that is seen and unseen.
12The four corners of the earth were put in place by you.
You made the majestic mountains
that are still shouting their praises to your name.
13Breathtaking and awesome is your power!
Astounding and unbelievable
is your might and strength when it goes on display!
14Your glorious throne rests on a foundation
of righteousness and just verdicts.
Grace and truth are the attendants who go before you.
15O Lord, how blessed are the people
who know the triumphant shout, # 89:15 The Hebrew word for “triumphant shout” is teruah, a homonym of the word for “brokenness.” Our triumphant shout can be powerful even in the midst of our brokenness.
for they walk in the radiance of your presence. # 89:15 Or “in the radiance of your face.”
16We can do nothing but leap for joy all day long,
for we know who you are and what you do,
and you’ve exalted us on high.
17The glory of your splendor is our strength,
and your marvelous favor makes us even stronger,
lifting us even higher!
18You are our King, the holiest one of all;
your wraparound presence is our protection.
Second Poem – God Keeps His Promises
19-20You spoke to your prophets in visions, saying,
“I have found a mighty hero for my people.
I have chosen David as my loving servant and exalted him.
I have anointed him as king with the oil of my holiness.
21I will be strength to him, and I will give him
my grace to sustain him no matter what comes.
22None of his enemies will get the best of him,
nor will the wicked one overpower him.
23For I will crush his every adversary
and do away with all who hate him.
24Because I love him and treasure him,
my faithfulness will always protect him.
I will place my great favor upon him,
and I will cause his power and fame to increase.
25I will set his hand over the sea
and his right hand over the rivers.
26And he will come before me, saying,
‘You truly are my Father, # 89:26 David was the first man in the Bible to address God as “my Father.” my only God, and my strong deliverer!’
27I am setting him apart, favoring him as my firstborn son.
I will make him the most high king in all the earth!
28I will love him forever and always show him kindness.
My covenant with him will never be broken.
29For I have decreed that he will always have an heir—
a dynasty that will release the days of heaven on earth.
30-32But if his children turn from me and forsake my words,
refusing to walk in my truth, renouncing and violating my laws,
then I will surely punish them for their sins
with my stern discipline until they regret it.
33But I will never, no never, lift my faithful love from off their lives.
My kindness will prevail and I will never disown them.
34-35How could I revoke my covenant of love that I promised David?
For I have given him my word, my holy, irrevocable word.
How could I lie to my loving servant David?
36-37Sons of David will continue to reign on his throne,
and their kingdom will endure as long as the sun is in the sky.
This covenant will be an unbreakable promise that
I have established for all time.”
Pause in his presence
Third Poem – Why Has Our King Been Defeated?
38Why have you rejected me, the one you anointed?
Why would you cast me away?
Why would you lose your temper with me?
39You have torn up the contract you made with me, your servant.
You have stripped away my crown # 89:39 In place of the word crown, some translations render “my dignity.” and thrown it to the ground.
40You have torn down all my walls of defense
and have made my every hiding place into ruins.
41All the passersby attack and rob me while my neighbors mock!
42Instead of fighting for me, you take the side of my enemies,
even giving them strength to subdue me,
and then watched them celebrate their victory!
43You are no longer helping me in battle.
You’ve forsaken me to the swords of those
who would strike me down.
44You’ve made my regal splendor to decrease
and allowed my rule to be overthrown.
45Because of you, I’ve become old before my time,
and I’m publicly disgraced!
Pause in his presence
Fourth Poem – Save Us, God
46How long will you hide your love from me?
Have you left me for good?
How long will your anger continue to burn against me?
47Remember, Lord, I am nothing but dust,
here today and so soon blown away.
Is this all you’ve created us for? For nothing but this?
48Which one of us will live forever?
We are all mortal, terminal, for we will all one day die.
Which one of us would ever escape our appointment with death
and dodge our own funeral?
Pause in his presence
49So God, where is all this love and kindness you promised us?
What happened to your covenant with David?
50Have you forgotten how your own servants are being slandered?
Lord God, it seems like I’m carrying in my heart
all the pain and abuse of many people.
51They have relentlessly insulted and persecuted us,
your anointed ones.
52Nevertheless, blessed be our God forever and ever.
Amen! Faithful is our King!
Book 4
The Numbers Psalms
Psalms of our pilgrimage on earth
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Psalms 89: TPT
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Learn More About The Passion TranslationPsalms 89
89
A Lament over God’s Promise to David
1A maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite.
A
I
2I will sing of your mercy forever, Lord#Is 63:7.
proclaim your faithfulness through all ages.
3#David’s dynasty is to be as long-lasting as the heavens, a statement reinforced by using the same verbs (establish, stand) both of the divine love and loyalty and of the Davidic dynasty and throne, cf. Ps 89:29–30.For I said, “My mercy is established forever;
my faithfulness will stand as long as the heavens.
4I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
5I will make your dynasty stand forever
and establish your throne through all ages.”#Ps 61:7–8; 132:11; 2 Sm 7:8–16.
Selah
II
6The heavens praise your marvels, Lord,
your loyalty in the assembly of the holy ones.#Ps 29:1; 82:1; Jb 1:6; 5:1.
7Who in the skies ranks with the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the sons of the gods?#The sons of the gods: “the holy ones” and “courtiers” of Ps 89:6, 8. These heavenly spirits are members of God’s court.#Ps 35:10; 86:8; 113:5; Ex 15:11; Jer 10:6.
8A God dreaded in the council of the holy ones,
greater and more awesome than all those around him!
9Lord, God of hosts, who is like you?
Mighty Lord, your faithfulness surrounds you.
10You rule the raging sea;#Ps 65:8; 74:13–15; 107:29; Jb 7:12; Is 51:9–10.
you still its swelling waves.
11You crush Rahab#Rahab: a mythological sea monster whose name is used in the Bible mainly as a personification of primeval chaos, cf. Jb 9:13; 26:12; Ps 74:13–14; Is 51:9. with a mortal blow;
with your strong arm you scatter your foes.
12Yours are the heavens, yours the earth;
you founded the world and everything in it.#Ps 24:1–2; 50:12; Dt 10:14; 1 Cor 10:26.
13#Zaphon and Amanus: two sacred mountains in northern Syria which came to designate the directions of north and south. Tabor: a high hill in the valley of Jezreel in northern Israel. Hermon: a mountain in Lebanon, forming the southern spur of the Anti-Lebanon range.Zaphon and Amanus you created;
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.
14You have a mighty arm.
Your hand is strong; your right hand is ever exalted.
15Justice and judgment are the foundation of your throne;
mercy and faithfulness march before you.#Ps 85:11–12; 97:2.
16Blessed the people who know the war cry,
who walk in the radiance of your face, Lord.
17In your name they sing joyfully all the day;
they rejoice in your righteousness.#Ps 47:2; Zep 3:14.
18You are their majestic strength;
by your favor our horn#89:18, 25] Horn: a concrete noun for an abstract quality; horn is a symbol of strength. is exalted.#Ps 112:9; 148:14.
19Truly the Lord is our shield,
the Holy One of Israel, our king!#Ps 47:9; 96:10; 97:1; 99:1; Is 6:3.
III
20Then you spoke in vision;#Ps 78:70; 132:11–12; 2 Sm 7:4, 8–16; 1 Chr 17:3, 7–14; Is 42:1; Acts 13:22.
to your faithful ones you said:
“I have set a leader over the warriors;
I have raised up a chosen one from the people.
21I have chosen David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him.
22My hand will be with him;#1 Sm 2:9–10.
my arm will make him strong.
23No enemy shall outwit him,
nor shall the wicked defeat him.
24I will crush his foes before him,
strike down those who hate him.
25My faithfulness and mercy will be with him;
through my name his horn will be exalted.
26#The sea…the rivers: geographically the limits of the Davidic empire (the Mediterranean and the Euphrates); mythologically, the traditional forces of chaos. See note on Ps 89:11.I will set his hand upon the sea,
his right hand upon the rivers.
27He shall cry to me, ‘You are my father,#Ps 2:7; 110:2–3; 2 Sm 7:9, 14; Col 1:15, 18; Rev 1:5.
my God, the Rock of my salvation!’
28I myself make him the firstborn,
Most High#Most High: a divine title, which is here extended to David as God’s own king, cf. Ps 2:7–9; Is 9:5. As God rules over the members of the heavenly council (Ps 89:6–9), so David, God’s surrogate, rules over earthly kings. over the kings of the earth.
29Forever I will maintain my mercy for him;#Ps 18:51; 61:8; 144:10; 2 Sm 7:11; Is 55:3.
my covenant with him stands firm.
30I will establish his dynasty forever,
his throne as the days of the heavens.
31If his descendants forsake my teaching,#Lv 26:14–33.
do not follow my decrees,
32If they fail to observe my statutes,
do not keep my commandments,
33I will punish their crime with a rod
and their guilt with blows.
34But I will not take my mercy from him,
nor will I betray my bond of faithfulness.#Ps 40:12; Sir 47:22.
35I will not violate my covenant;
the promise of my lips I will not alter.#Jer 33:20–21.
36By my holiness I swore once for all:#Am 4:2.
I will never be false to David.
37#Like the sun before me…like the sky: as enduring as the heavenly lights, cf. Ps 89:2–5 and Ps 72:5, 17.His dynasty will continue forever,#Ps 61:8; 72:5; Sir 43:6.
his throne, like the sun before me.
38Like the moon it will stand eternal,
forever firm like the sky!”
Selah
B
IV
39But now you have rejected and spurned,#Ps 44:10–25.
been enraged at your anointed.
40You renounced the covenant with your servant,
defiled his crown in the dust.
41You broke down all city walls,#Ps 80:13–14.
left his strongholds in ruins.
42All who pass through seize plunder;
his neighbors deride him.
43You have exalted the right hand of his foes,
have gladdened all his enemies.#Lam 1:5.
44You turned back his sharp sword,
did not support him in battle.
45You brought to an end his splendor,
hurled his throne to the ground.
46You cut short the days of his youth,
covered him with shame.
Selah
V
47How long, Lord? Will you hide forever?
Must your wrath smolder like fire?#Ps 13:2; 44:25; 74:10; 79:5; Dt 4:24.
48Remember how brief life is,
how frail the sons of man you have created!#Ps 39:5–6; 62:10; 90:9–10; 144:4; Jb 7:6, 16; 14:1, 5; Eccl 6:12; Wis 2:5.
49What is man, that he should live and not see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?#Ps 90:3.
Selah
VI
50Where are your former mercies, Lord,
that you swore to David in your faithfulness?
51Remember, Lord, the insults to your servants,
how I have borne in my bosom the slander of the nations.#Ps 79:12.
52Your enemies, Lord, insult;
they insult each step of your anointed.
53#The doxology at the end of the third book of the Psalms; it is not part of Ps 89.Blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and amen!#Ps 41:14; 72:18; 106:48.
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