Psalms 88–90

1O LORD, the God of my salvation, day and night I cry out before You.

2May my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry.

3For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.

4I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man without strength.

5I am forsaken among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom You remember no more, who are cut off from Your care.

6You have laid me in the lowest Pit, in the darkest of the depths.

7Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. Selah

8You have removed my friends from me; You have made me repulsive to them; I am confined and cannot escape.

9My eyes grow dim with grief. I call to You daily, O LORD; I spread out my hands to You.

10Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah

11Can Your loving devotion be proclaimed in the grave, Your faithfulness in Abaddon?

12Will Your wonders be known in the darkness, or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

13But to You, O LORD, I cry for help; in the morning my prayer comes before You.

14Why, O LORD, do You reject me? Why do You hide Your face from me?

15From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.

16Your wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me.

17All day long they engulf me like water; they enclose me on every side.

18You have removed my beloved and my friend; darkness is my closest companion.

1I will sing of the loving devotion of the LORD forever; with my mouth I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations.

2For I have said, “Loving devotion is built up forever; in the heavens You establish Your faithfulness.”

3You said, “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 for all generations.’” Selah

5The heavens praise Your wonders, O LORD— Your faithfulness as well— in the assembly of the holy ones.

6For who in the skies can compare with the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD?

7In the council of the holy ones, God is greatly feared, and awesome above all who surround Him.

8O LORD God of Hosts, who is like You? O mighty LORD, Your faithfulness surrounds You.

9You rule the raging sea; when its waves mount up, You still them.

10You crushed Rahab like a carcass; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.

11The heavens are Yours, and also the earth. The earth and its fullness You founded.

12North and south You created; Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.

13Mighty is Your arm; strong is Your hand. Your right hand is exalted.

14Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; loving devotion and faithfulness go before You.

15Blessed are those who know the joyful sound, who walk, O LORD, in the light of Your presence.

16They rejoice in Your name all day long, and in Your righteousness they exult.

17For You are the glory of their strength, and by Your favor our horn is exalted.

18Surely our shield belongs to the LORD, and our king to the Holy One of Israel.

19You once spoke in a vision; to Your godly ones You said, “I have bestowed help on a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

20I have found My servant David; with My sacred oil I have anointed him.

21My hand will sustain him; surely My arm will strengthen him.

22No enemy will exact tribute; no wicked man will oppress him.

23I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.

24My faithfulness and loving devotion will be with him, and through My name his horn will be exalted.

25I will set his hand over the sea, and his right hand upon the rivers.

26He will call to Me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock of my salvation.’

27I will indeed appoint him as My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.

28I will forever preserve My loving devotion for him, and My covenant with him will stand fast.

29I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure.

30If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments,

31if they violate My statutes and fail to keep My commandments,

32I will attend to their transgression with the rod, and to their iniquity with stripes.

33But I will not withdraw My loving devotion from him, nor ever betray My faithfulness.

34I will not violate My covenant or alter the utterance of My lips.

35Once and for all I have sworn by My holiness— I will not lie to David—

36his offspring shall endure forever, and his throne before Me like the sun,

37like the moon, established forever, a faithful witness in the sky.” Selah

38Now, however, You have spurned and rejected him; You are enraged by Your anointed one.

39You have renounced the covenant with Your servant and sullied his crown in the dust.

40You have broken down all his walls; You have reduced his strongholds to rubble.

41All who pass by plunder him; he has become a reproach to his neighbors.

42You have exalted the right hand of his foes; You have made all his enemies rejoice.

43You have bent the edge of his sword and have not sustained him in battle.

44You have ended his splendor and cast his throne to the ground.

45You have cut short the days of his youth; You have covered him with shame. Selah

46How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath keep burning like fire?

47Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!

48What man can live and never see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

49Where, O Lord, is Your loving devotion of old, which You faithfully swore to David?

50Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants, which I bear in my heart from so many people—

51how Your enemies have taunted, O LORD, and have mocked every step of Your anointed one!

52Blessed be the LORD forever! Amen and amen.

1Lord, You have been our dwelling place through all generations.

2Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.

3You return man to dust, saying, “Return, O sons of mortals.”

4For in Your sight a thousand years are but a day that passes, or a watch of the night.

5You sweep them away in their sleep; they are like the new grass of the morning—

6in the morning it springs up new, but by evening it fades and withers.

7For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath.

8You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.

9For all our days decline in Your fury; we finish our years with a sigh.

10The length of our days is seventy years— or eighty if we are strong— yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

11Who knows the power of Your anger? Your wrath matches the fear You are due.

12So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.

13Return, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on Your servants.

14Satisfy us in the morning with Your loving devotion, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

15Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen evil.

16May Your work be shown to Your servants, and Your splendor to their children.

17May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish for us the work of our hands— yes, establish the work of our hands!