I Will Sing of the Steadfast Love of the Lord
A Maskil1 of hEthan the Ezrahite.
1 iI will sing of jthe steadfast love of the Lord, forever;
with my mouth I will make known your kfaithfulness to all generations.
2 For I said, j“Steadfast love will be built up forever;
in the heavens lyou will establish your kfaithfulness.”
3 You have said, “I have made ma covenant with my nchosen one;
I have osworn to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your poffspring forever,
and build your qthrone for all generations.’” Selah
5 Let rthe heavens praise your swonders, O Lord,
your faithfulness in the assembly of tthe holy ones!
6 For uwho in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
uWho among the heavenly beings2 is like the Lord,
7 a God greatly vto be feared in the council of tthe holy ones,
and awesome above all wwho are around him?
8 O Lord God of hosts,
xwho is mighty as you are, O yLord,
with your faithfulness all around you?
9 You rule the raging of the sea;
when its waves rise, you zstill them.
10 You acrushed bRahab like a carcass;
you cscattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11 dThe heavens are yours; the earth also is yours;
ethe world and all that is in it, you have ffounded them.
12 gThe north and the south, you have created them;
hTabor and iHermon jjoyously praise your name.
13 You have a mighty arm;
strong is your hand, high your right hand.
14 kRighteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
lsteadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
15 Blessed are the people who know mthe festal shout,
who walk, O Lord, in nthe light of your face,
16 who exult in your oname all the day
and in your righteousness are pexalted.
17 For you are qthe glory of their strength;
by your favor our rhorn is exalted.
18 For our sshield belongs to the Lord,
our king to tthe Holy One of Israel.
19 uOf old you spoke in a vision to your godly one,3 and said:
“I have vgranted help to one who is wmighty;
I have exalted one xchosen from the people.
20 yI have found David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have zanointed him,
21 so that my ahand shall be established with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not outwit him;
bthe wicked shall not humble him.
23 I will ccrush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
24 My dfaithfulness and my dsteadfast love shall be with him,
and in my name shall his ehorn be exalted.
25 I will set his hand on fthe sea
and his right hand on fthe rivers.
26 He shall cry to me, ‘You are my gFather,
my God, and hthe Rock of my salvation.’
27 And I will make him the ifirstborn,
jthe highest of the kings of the earth.
28 My steadfast love I will keep for him forever,
and my kcovenant will stand firm4 for him.
29 I will establish his loffspring forever
and his lthrone as mthe days of the heavens.
30 nIf his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my rules,5
31 if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
32 then I will punish their transgression with othe rod
and their iniquity with stripes,
33 but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
or be false to my faithfulness.
34 I will not violate my kcovenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
35 Once for all I have sworn pby my holiness;
I will not qlie to David.
36 His loffspring shall endure forever,
rhis lthrone as long as sthe sun before me.
37 Like sthe moon it shall be established forever,
ta faithful witness in the skies.” Selah
38 But now you have ucast off and rejected;
you are full of wrath against your vanointed.
39 You have wrenounced xthe covenant with your servant;
you have ydefiled his zcrown in the dust.
40 You have abreached all his walls;
you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
41 aAll who pass by plunder him;
he has become bthe scorn of his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
you have made all his enemies rejoice.
43 You have also turned back the edge of his sword,
and you have not made him stand in battle.
44 You have made his splendor to cease
and cast his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut short cthe days of his youth;
you have dcovered him with shame. Selah
46 eHow long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath fburn like fire?
47 gRemember hhow short my itime is!
For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
48 jWhat man can live and never ksee death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of lSheol? Selah
49 Lord, where is your msteadfast love of old,
which by your mfaithfulness you swore to David?
50 nRemember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,
and how I bear in my oheart the insults6 of all the many nations,
51 with which your enemies mock, O Lord,
52 rBlessed be the Lord forever!
Amen and Amen.
The Ransomed Shall Return
1 tThe wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
uthe desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
2 it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and singing.
vThe glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of wCarmel and xSharon.
yThey shall see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.
3 zStrengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who have an anxious heart,
“Be strong; fear not!
aBehold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”
5 bThen the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 bthen shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
cFor waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7 dthe burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of ejackals, where they lie down,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8 fAnd a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
gthe unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.1
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 hAnd the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
ieverlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.