Psalms89
World English Bible · Public Domain
1 I will sing of the loving kindness of Yahweh forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
2 I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever. You established the heavens. Your faithfulness is in them.”
3 “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David, my servant,
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build up your throne to all generations.’” Selah.
5 The heavens will praise your wonders, Yahweh, your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh? Who among the sons of the heavenly beings is like Yahweh,
7 a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones, to be feared above all those who are around him?
8 Yahweh, God of Armies, who is a mighty one, like you? Yah, your faithfulness is around you.
9 You rule the pride of the sea. When its waves rise up, you calm them.
10 You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain. You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11 The heavens are yours. The earth also is yours, the world and its fullness. You have founded them.
12 You have created the north and the south. Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.
13 You have a mighty arm. Your hand is strong, and your right hand is exalted.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Loving kindness and truth go before your face.
15 Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you. They walk in the light of your presence, Yahweh.
16 In your name they rejoice all day. In your righteousness, they are exalted.
17 For you are the glory of their strength. In your favor, our horn will be exalted.
18 For our shield belongs to Yahweh, our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Then you spoke in vision to your saints, and said, “I have given strength to the warrior. I have exalted a young man from the people.
20 I have found David, my servant. I have anointed him with my holy oil,
21 with whom my hand shall be established. My arm will also strengthen him.
22 No enemy will tax him. No wicked man will oppress him.
23 I will beat down his adversaries before him, and strike those who hate him.
24 But my faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him. In my name, his horn will be exalted.
25 I will set his hand also on the sea, and his right hand on the rivers.
26 He will call to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation!’
27 I will also appoint him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my loving kindness for him forever more. My covenant will stand firm with him.
29 I will also make his offspring endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
30 If his children forsake my law, and don’t walk in my ordinances;
31 if they break my statutes, and don’t keep my commandments;
32 then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
33 But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail.
34 I will not break my covenant, nor alter what my lips have uttered.
35 Once I have sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David.
36 His offspring will endure forever, his throne like the sun before me.
37 It will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah.
38 But you have rejected and spurned. You have been angry with your anointed.
39 You have renounced the covenant of your servant. You have defiled his crown in the dust.
40 You have broken down all his hedges. You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
41 All who pass by the way rob him. He has become a reproach to his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries. You have made all of his enemies rejoice.
43 Yes, you turn back the edge of his sword, and haven’t supported him in battle.
44 You have ended his splendor, and thrown his throne down to the ground.
45 You have shortened the days of his youth. You have covered him with shame. Selah.
46 How long, Yahweh? Will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my time is, for what vanity you have created all the children of men!
48 What man is he who shall live and not see death, who shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.
49 Lord, where are your former loving kindnesses, which you swore to David in your faithfulness?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the mighty peoples,
51 With which your enemies have mocked, Yahweh, with which they have mocked the footsteps of your anointed one.
52 Blessed be Yahweh forever more. Amen, and Amen.
Study
Psalms 89Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Psalms 89. The full AI study guide (summary, themes, context) has its own page.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: God's mercy and truth, and his covenant. (1–4). The glory and perfection of God. (5–14). The happiness of those in communion with him. (15–18). God's covenant with David, as a type of Christ. (19–37). A calamitous state lamented, Prayer for redress. (38–52).
vv1-4
Though our expectations may be disappointed, yet God's promises are established in the heavens, in his eternal counsels; they are out of the reach of opposers in hell and earth. And faith in the boundless mercy and everlasting truth of God, may bring comfort even in the deepest trials.
vv5-14
The more God's works are known, the more they are admired. And to praise the Lord, is to acknowledge him to be such a one that there is none like him. Surely then we should feel and express reverence when we worship God. But how little of this appears in our congregations, and how much cause have we to humble ourselves on this account! That almighty power which smote Egypt, will scatter the enemies of the church, while all who trust in God's mercy will rejoice in his name; for mercy and truth direct all he does. His counsels from eternity, and their consequences to eternity, are all justice and judgment.
vv15-18
Happy are those who so know the joyful sound of the gospel as to obey it; who experience its power upon their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives. Though believers are nothing in themselves, yet having all in Christ Jesus, they may rejoice in his name. May the Lord enable us to do so. The joy of the Lord is the strength of his people; whereas unbelief dispirits ourselves and discourages others. Though it steals upon us under a semblance of humility, yet it is the very essence of pride. Christ is the Holy One of Israel; and in him was that peculiar people more blessed than in any other blessing.
Key Words
מַשְׂכִּיל: instructive, i.e. a didactic poem
אֵיתָן: Ethan, the name of four Israelites
אֶזְרָחִי: an Ezrachite or descendant of Zerach
שִׁיר: to sing
חֵסֵד: kindness; by implication (towards God) piety; rarely (by opposition) reproof, or (subject.) beauty
עוֹלָם: properly, concealed, i.e. the vanishing point; generally, time out of mind (past or future), i.e. (practically) eternity; frequentatively, adverbial (especially with prepositional prefix) always
פֶּה: the mouth (as the means of blowing), whether literal or figurative (particularly speech); specifically edge, portion or side; adverbially (with preposition) according to
יָדַע: to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively, instruction, designation, punishment, etc.)
אֱמוּנָה: literally firmness; figuratively security; morally fidelity
דּוֹר: properly, a revolution of time, i.e. an age or generation; also a dwelling
Cross References
Psalms 89The foundational covenant promise to David's seed and throne, directly quoted and celebrated here.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Connects the 'sure mercies of David' directly to God's everlasting, unbreakable covenant.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
God's historical selection and finding of David, His chosen servant, to be anointed.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel psalm recalling God's oath and sworn covenant to David concerning his kingly line.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin
The classic praise of God's incomparable glory: 'Who is like unto thee, O Lord?'
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin
Christ as the supreme realization of the 'firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.'
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Identical imagery of broken-down hedges and exposed vine, representing the humiliation of Israel.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The requirement of reverence and godly fear in the presence of the holy God.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Identifies 'Rahab' as Egypt, whom God's arm cut and wounded in the Exodus.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The eternal throne of God characterized by righteousness and justice as its foundation.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The enduring sun and moon used as cosmic symbols of the perpetuity of David's kingdom.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
God's covenant with day and night compared to the absolute certainty of His covenant with David.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Scoffers mocking the footsteps of the anointed, asking 'Where is the promise of his coming?'
Supported by Matthew Henry
Declares Jesus Christ to be the seed of David according to the flesh, fulfilling the oath.
Supported by JFB
The concluding doxology 'Amen, and Amen' closing Book 3 of the Psalter, parallel to Book 1.
Supported by Matthew Poole