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An instruction. Of Ethan the Ezrahite.

¹ I will sing of the loving-kindness of Jehovah for ever; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness from generation to generation.

² For I said, Loving-kindness shall be built up for ever; in the very heavens wilt thou establish thy faithfulness.

³ I have made a covenant with mine elect, I have sworn unto David my servant:

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

⁵ And the heavens shall celebrate thy wonders, O Jehovah, and thy faithfulness in the congregation of the saints.

⁶ For who in the heaven can be compared to Jehovah? [who] among the sons of the mighty shall be likened to Jehovah?

⁷ God is greatly to be feared in the council of the saints, and terrible for all that are round about him.

⁸ Jehovah, God of hosts, who is like unto thee, the strong Jah? And thy faithfulness is round about thee.

⁹ *Thou* rulest the pride of the sea: when its waves arise, *thou* stillest them.

¹⁰ Thou hast crushed Rahab as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with the arm of thy strength.

¹¹ Thine are the heavens, the earth also is thine; the world and its fulness, *thou* hast founded them.

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

¹³ Thine is the arm of might: strong is thy hand, high is thy right hand.

¹⁴ Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of thy throne; loving-kindness and truth go before thy face.

¹⁵ Blessed is the people that know the shout of joy: they walk, O Jehovah, in the light of thy countenance.

¹⁶ In thy name are they joyful all the day, and in thy righteousness are they exalted.

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

¹⁸ For Jehovah is our shield, and the Holy One of Israel, our king.

¹⁹ Then thou spakest in vision of thy Holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon a mighty one; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

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

²¹ With whom my hand shall be established; and mine arm shall strengthen him.

²² No enemy shall exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him;

²³ But I will beat down his adversaries before his face, and will smite them that hate him.

²⁴ And my faithfulness and my loving-kindness shall be with him, and by my name shall his horn be exalted.

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

²⁶ *He* shall call unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation;

²⁷ And as to me, I will make him firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

²⁸ My loving-kindness will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him;

²⁹ And I will establish his seed for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

³⁰ If his sons forsake my law, and walk not in mine ordinances;

³¹ If they profane my statutes, and keep not my commandments:

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

³³ Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor belie my faithfulness;

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

³⁵ Once have I sworn by my holiness; I will not lie unto David:

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

³⁷ It shall be established for ever as the moon, and the witness in the sky is firm. Selah.

³⁸ But thou hast rejected and cast off; thou hast been very wroth with thine anointed:

³⁹ Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant; thou hast profaned his crown to the ground:

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

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

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

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

⁴⁴ Thou hast made his brightness to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground;

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

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

⁴⁷ Remember, as regards me, what life is. Wherefore hast thou created all the children of men to be vanity?

⁴⁸ What man liveth, and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.

⁴⁹ Where, Lord, are thy former loving-kindnesses, [which] thou swarest unto David in thy faithfulness?

⁵⁰ Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants—that I bear in my bosom [that of] all the mighty peoples—

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

⁵² Blessed be Jehovah for evermore! Amen, and Amen.