Psalms 87-89

Psalm 87

¹A Psalm of the sons of Korah; a Song. His foundation is in the holy mountains.

²The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

³Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah

⁴I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon as among them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this one was born there.

⁵Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her; and the Most High himself shall establish her.

⁶The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the peoples, this one was born there. Selah

⁷They that sing as well as they that dance shall say, All my fountains are in thee.

Psalm 88

¹A Song, a Psalm of the sons of Korah; for the Chief Musician; set to Mahalath Leannoth. Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:

²Let my prayer enter into thy presence; incline thine ear unto my cry:

³For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto Sheol.

⁴I am counted with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no help:

⁵Cast off among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more; and they are cut off from thy hand.

⁶Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the deeps.

⁷Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah

⁸Thou hast put mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.

⁹Mine eye wasteth away by reason of affliction: I have called daily upon thee, O LORD, I have spread forth my hands unto thee.

¹⁰Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall they that are deceased arise and praise thee? Selah

¹¹Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in Destruction?

¹²Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

¹³But unto thee, O LORD, have I cried, and in the morning shall my prayer come before thee.

¹⁴LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?

¹⁵I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.

¹⁶Thy fierce wrath is gone over me; thy terrors have cut me off.

¹⁷They came round about me like water all the day long; they compassed me about together.

¹⁸Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

Psalm 89

¹Maschil 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 assembly of the holy ones.

⁶For who in the skies can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty is like unto the LORD,

⁷A God very terrible in the council of the holy ones, and to be feared above all them that are round about him?

⁸O LORD God of hosts, who is a mighty one, like unto thee, O JAH? and thy faithfulness is round about thee.

⁹Thou rulest the pride 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 the arm of thy strength.

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

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

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

¹⁴Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of thy throne: mercy and truth go before thy face.

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

¹⁶In thy name do they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness are they exalted.

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

¹⁸For our shield belongeth unto the LORD; and our king to the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁹Then thou spakest in vision to thy saints, 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 adversaries before him, and smite 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 on the sea, and his right hand on the rivers.

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

²⁷I also will make him my firstborn, the highest of 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.

³³But my mercy 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; 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 the faithful witness in the sky. Selah

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

³⁹Thou hast abhorred the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown even to the ground.

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

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

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

⁴³Yea, thou turnest back the edge his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.

⁴⁴Thou hast made his brightness 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, O LORD, wilt thou hid thyself for ever? how long shall thy wrath burn like fire?

⁴⁷O remember how short my time is: for what vanity hast thou created all the children of men!

⁴⁸What man is he that shall live and not see death, that shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

⁴⁹Lord, where are thy former mercies, which thou swarest unto David in thy faithfulness?

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

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.