Psalm 73-89

GOD’S WORD Translation

² But my feet had almost stumbled.
They had almost slipped
³ because I was envious of arrogant people
when I saw the prosperity that wicked people enjoy.

⁴ They suffer no pain.
Their bodies are healthy.
⁵ They have no drudgery in their lives like ordinary people.
They are not plagued ⌞with problems⌟ like others.
⁶ That is why they wear arrogance like a necklace
and acts of violence like clothing.
⁷ Their eyes peer out from their fat faces,
and their imaginations run wild.
⁸ They ridicule.
They speak maliciously.
They speak arrogantly about oppression.
⁹ They verbally attack heaven,
and they order people around on earth.
¹⁰ That is why God’s people turn to wickedness
and swallow their words.
¹¹ Then wicked people ask, “What does God know?”
“Does the Most High know anything?”
¹² Look how wicked they are!
They never have a worry.
They grow more and more wealthy.

¹³ I’ve received no reward for keeping my life pure
and washing my hands of any blame.
¹⁴ I’m plagued ⌞with problems⌟ all day long,
and every morning my punishment ⌞begins again⌟.
¹⁵ If I had said, “I will continue to talk like that,”
I would have betrayed God’s people.

¹⁶ But when I tried to understand this,
it was too difficult for me.
¹⁷ Only when I came into God’s holy place
did I ⌞finally⌟ understand what would happen to them.

¹⁸ You put them in slippery places
and make them fall into ruin.
¹⁹ They are suddenly destroyed.
They are completely swept away by terror!
²⁰ As ⌞someone⌟ gets rid of a dream when he wakes up,
so you, O Lord, get rid of the thought of them
when you wake up.

²¹ When my heart was filled with bitterness
and my mind was seized ⌞with envy⌟,
²² I was stupid, and I did not understand.
I was like a dumb animal in your presence.
²³ Yet, I am always with you.
You hold on to my right hand.
²⁴ With your advice you guide me,
and in the end you will take me to glory.
²⁵ As long as I have you,
I don’t need anyone else in heaven or on earth.
²⁶ My body and mind may waste away,
but God remains the foundation of my life
and my inheritance forever.
²⁷ Without a doubt, those who are far from you will die.
You destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

²⁸ Being united with God is my highest good.
I have made the Almighty Lord my refuge
so that I may report everything that he has done.

² Remember your congregation.
Long ago you made it your own.
You bought this tribe to be your possession.
This tribe is Mount Zion, where you have made your home.
³ Turn your steps toward these pathetic ruins.
The enemy has destroyed everything in the holy temple.

⁴ Your opponents have roared inside your meeting place.
They have set up their own emblems as symbols.
⁵ Starting from its entrance, they hacked away
like a woodcutter in a forest.
⁶ They smashed all its carved paneling with axes and hatchets.
⁷ They burned your holy place to the ground.
They dishonored the place where you live among us.
⁸ They said to themselves, “We will crush them.”
They burned every meeting place of God in the land.

⁹ We no longer see miraculous signs.
There are no prophets anymore.
No one knows how long this will last.
¹⁰ How long, O God, will the enemy insult us?
Will the enemy despise you forever?
¹¹ Why do you hold back your hand, especially your right hand?
Take your hands out of your pockets.
Destroy your enemies!

¹² And yet, from long ago God has been my king,
the one who has been victorious throughout the earth.
¹³ You stirred up the sea with your own strength.
You smashed the heads of sea monsters in the water.
¹⁴ You crushed the heads of Leviathan
and gave them to the creatures of the desert for food.
¹⁵ You opened the springs and brooks.
You dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
¹⁶ The day and the night are yours.
You set the moon and the sun in their places.
¹⁷ You determined all the boundaries of the earth.
You created summer and winter.

¹⁸ Remember how the enemy insulted you, O Lord.
Remember how an entire nation of godless fools despised your name.
¹⁹ Do not hand over the soul of your dove to wild animals.
Do not forget the life of your oppressed people forever.
²⁰ Consider your promise ^[b]
because every dark corner of the land is filled with violence.
²¹ Do not let oppressed people come back in disgrace.
Let weak and needy people praise your name.
²² Arise, O God!
Fight for your own cause!
Remember how godless fools insult you all day long.
²³ Do not forget the shouting of your opponents.
Do not forget the uproar made by those who attack you.

² When I choose the right time,
I will judge fairly.
³ When the earth and everyone who lives on it begin to melt,
I will make its foundations as solid as rock. Selah
⁴ I said to those who brag, “Don’t brag,”
and to wicked people,
“Don’t raise your weapons.
⁵ Don’t raise your weapons so proudly
or speak so defiantly.”

⁶ The ⌞authority⌟ to reward someone does not ⌞come⌟
from the east,
from the west,
or ⌞even⌟ from the wilderness.
⁷ God alone is the judge.
He punishes one person and rewards another.
⁸ A cup is in the Lord’s hand.
(Its foaming wine is thoroughly mixed with spices.)
He will empty it,
⌞and⌟ all the wicked people on earth
will have to drink every last drop.

⁹ But I will speak ⌞about your miracles⌟ forever.
I will make music to praise the God of Jacob.
¹⁰ I will destroy all the weapons of wicked people,
but the weapons of righteous people will be raised proudly.

⁴ You are the radiant one.
You are more majestic than the ancient mountains.^[c]
5 Brave people were robbed.
They died.
None of the warriors were able to lift a hand.
⁶ At your stern warning, O God of Jacob,
chariot riders and horses were put to sleep.

⁷ You alone must be feared!
Who can stand in your presence when you become angry?
⁸ From heaven you announced a verdict.
The earth was fearful and silent
⁹ when you rose to judge, O God,
when you rose to save every oppressed person on earth. Selah

¹⁰ Even angry mortals will praise you.
You will wear the remainder of ⌞their⌟ anger.
¹¹ Make vows to the Lord your God, and keep them.
Let everyone around him bring gifts to the one who must be feared.
¹² He cuts short the lives of influential people.
He terrifies the kings of the earth.

³ I sigh as I remember God.
I begin to lose hope as I think about him. Selah
⁴ (You keep my eyelids open.)
I am so upset that I cannot speak.
⁵ I have considered the days of old,
the years long ago.
⁶ I remember my song in the night
and reflect ⌞on it⌟.
My spirit searches ⌞for an answer⌟:
⁷ Will the Lord reject ⌞me⌟ for all time?
Will he ever accept me?
⁸ Has his mercy come to an end forever?
Has his promise been canceled throughout every generation?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be merciful?
Has he locked up his compassion because of his anger? Selah
¹⁰ Then I said, “It makes me feel sick
that the power of the Most High is no longer the same.”

¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the Lord.
I will remember your ancient miracles.
¹² I will reflect on all your actions
and think about what you have done.

¹³ O God, your ways are holy!
What god is as great as our God?
¹⁴ You are the God who performs miracles.
You have made your strength known among the nations.
¹⁵ With your might you have defended your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

¹⁶ The water saw you, O God.
The water saw you and shook.
Even the depths of the sea trembled.
¹⁷ The clouds poured out water.
The sky thundered.
Even your arrows flashed in every direction.
¹⁸ The sound of your thunder rumbled in the sky.
Streaks of lightning lit up the world.
The earth trembled and shook.

¹⁹ Your road went through the sea.
Your path went through raging water,
but your footprints could not be seen.
²⁰ Like a shepherd, you led your people.
You had Moses and Aaron take them by the hand.

⁵ He established written instructions for Jacob’s people.
He gave his teachings to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors to make them known to their children
⁶ so that the next generation would know them.
Children yet to be born ⌞would learn them⌟.
They will grow up and tell their children
⁷ to trust God, to remember what he has done,
and to obey his commands.
⁸ Then they will not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn and rebellious generation.
Their hearts were not loyal.
Their spirits were not faithful to God.

⁹ The men of Ephraim, well-equipped with bows ⌞and arrows⌟,
turned ⌞and ran⌟ on the day of battle.
¹⁰ They had not been faithful to God’s promise.^[d]
They refused to follow his teachings.
¹¹ They forgot what he had done—
the miracles that he had shown them.

¹² In front of their ancestors he performed miracles
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
¹³ He divided the sea and led them through it.
He made the waters stand up like a wall.
¹⁴ He guided them by a cloud during the day
and by a fiery light throughout the night.
¹⁵ He split rocks in the desert.
He gave them plenty to drink, an ocean of water.
¹⁶ He made streams come out of a rock.
He made the water flow like rivers.

¹⁷ They continued to sin against him,
to rebel in the desert against the Most High.
¹⁸ They deliberately tested God by demanding the food they craved.
¹⁹ They spoke against God by saying,
“Can God prepare a banquet in the desert?
²⁰ True, he did strike a rock,
and water did gush out,
and the streams did overflow.
But can he also give us bread or provide us, his people, with meat?”

²¹ When the Lord heard this, he became furious.
His fire burned against Jacob
and his anger flared up at Israel
²² because they did not believe God
or trust him to save them.

²³ In spite of that, he commanded the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.
²⁴ He rained manna down on them to eat
and gave them grain from heaven.
²⁵ Humans ate the bread of the mighty ones,
and God sent them plenty of food.

²⁶ He made the east wind blow in the heavens
and guided the south wind with his might.
²⁷ He rained meat down on them like dust,
birds like the sand on the seashore.
²⁸ He made the birds fall in the middle of his camp,
all around his dwelling place.

²⁹ They ate more than enough.
He gave them what they wanted,
³⁰ but they still wanted more.
While the food was still in their mouths,
³¹ the anger of God flared up against them.
He killed their strongest men and slaughtered the best young men in Israel.

³² In spite of all this, they continued to sin,
and they no longer believed in his miracles.
³³ He brought their days to an end like a whisper in the wind.
He brought their years to an end in terror.
³⁴ When he killed ⌞some of⌟ them, ⌞the rest⌟ searched for him.
They turned from their sins and eagerly looked for God.
³⁵ They remembered that God was their rock,
that the Most High was their defender.
³⁶ They flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues.
³⁷ Their hearts were not loyal to him.
They were not faithful to his promise.

³⁸ But he is compassionate.
He forgave their sin.
He did not destroy them.
He restrained his anger many times.
He did not display all of his fury.
³⁹ He remembered that they were only flesh and blood,
a breeze that blows and does not return.

⁴⁰ How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness!
How often they caused him grief in the desert!
⁴¹ Again and again they tested God,
and they pushed the Holy One of Israel to the limit.
⁴² They did not remember his power—
the day he freed them from their oppressor,
⁴³ when he performed his miraculous signs in Egypt,
his wonders in the fields of Zoan.

⁴⁴ He turned their rivers into blood
so that they could not drink from their streams.
⁴⁵ He sent a swarm of flies that bit them
and frogs that ruined them.
⁴⁶ He gave their crops to grasshoppers
and their produce to locusts.
⁴⁷ He killed their vines with hail
and their fig trees with frost.
⁴⁸ He let the hail strike their cattle
and bolts of lightning strike their livestock.
⁴⁹ He sent his burning anger, rage, fury, and hostility against them.
He sent an army of destroying angels.
⁵⁰ He cleared a path for his anger.
He did not spare them.
He let the plague take their lives.
⁵¹ He slaughtered every firstborn in Egypt,
the ones born in the tents of Ham when their fathers were young.

⁵² But he led his own people out like sheep
and guided them like a flock through the wilderness.
⁵³ He led them safely.
They had no fear while the sea covered their enemies.
⁵⁴ He brought them into his holy land,
to this mountain that his power had won.
⁵⁵ He forced nations out of their way
and gave them the land of the nations as their inheritance.
He settled the tribes of Israel in their own tents.

⁵⁶ They tested God Most High and rebelled against him.
They did not obey his written instructions.
⁵⁷ They were disloyal and treacherous like their ancestors.
They were like arrows shot from a defective bow.
⁵⁸ They made him angry because of their illegal worship sites.
They made him furious because they worshiped idols.

⁵⁹ When God heard, he became furious.
He completely rejected Israel.
⁶⁰ He abandoned his dwelling place in Shiloh,
the tent where he had lived among humans.
⁶¹ He allowed his power to be taken captive
and handed his glory over to an oppressor.
⁶² He let swords kill his people.
He was furious with those who belonged to him.
⁶³ Fire consumed his best young men,
so his virgins heard no wedding songs.
⁶⁴ His priests were cut down with swords.
The widows ⌞of his priests⌟ could not even weep ⌞for them⌟.
⁶⁵ Then the Lord woke up like one who had been sleeping,
like a warrior sobering up from ⌞too much⌟ wine.
⁶⁶ He struck his enemies from behind
and disgraced them forever.

⁶⁷ He rejected the tent of Joseph.
He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
⁶⁸ but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which he loved.
⁶⁹ He built his holy place to be like the high heavens,
like the earth which he made to last for a long time.

⁷⁰ He chose his servant David.
He took him from the sheep pens.
⁷¹ He brought him from tending the ewes that had lambs
so that David could be the shepherd of the people of Jacob,
of Israel, the people who belonged to the Lord.
⁷² With unselfish devotion David became their shepherd.
With skill he guided them.

⁴ We have become a disgrace to our neighbors,
an object of ridicule and contempt to those around us.
⁵ How long, O Lord?
Will you remain angry forever?
Will your fury continue to burn like fire?
⁶ Pour your fury on the nations that do not know you,
on the kingdoms that have not called you.
⁷ They have devoured Jacob.
They have destroyed his home.
⁸ Do not hold the crimes of our ancestors against us.
Reach out to us soon with your compassion,
because we are helpless.
⁹ Help us, O God, our savior, for the glory of your name.
Rescue us, and forgive our sins for the honor of your name.

¹⁰ Why should the nations ⌞be allowed to⌟ say,
“Where is their God?”
Let us watch as the nations learn
that there is punishment for shedding the blood of your servants.
¹¹ Let the groans of prisoners come into your presence.
With your powerful arm rescue those who are condemned to death.
¹² Pay each one of our neighbors back
with seven times the number of insults they used to insult you, O Lord.
¹³ Then we, your people, the flock in your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever.
We will praise you throughout every generation.

³ O God, restore us and smile on us
so that we may be saved.

⁴ O Lord God, commander of armies, how long will you smolder in anger
against the prayer of your people?
⁵ You made them eat tears as food.
You often made them drink ⌞their own⌟ tears.
⁶ You made us a source of conflict to our neighbors,
and our enemies made fun of us.

⁷ O God, commander of armies, restore us and smile on us
so that we may be saved.

⁸ You brought a vine from Egypt.
You forced out the nations and planted it.
⁹ You cleared the ground for it
so that it took root and filled the land.
¹⁰ Its shade covered the mountains.
Its branches covered the mighty cedars.
¹¹ It reached out with its branches to the Mediterranean Sea.
Its shoots reached the Euphrates River.

¹² Why did you break down the stone fences around this vine?
All who pass by are picking its fruit.
¹³ Wild boars from the forest graze on it.
Wild animals devour it.
¹⁴ O God, commander of armies, come back!
Look from heaven and see!
Come to help this vine.
¹⁵ Take care of what your right hand planted,
the son you strengthened for yourself.
¹⁶ The vine has been cut down and burned.
Let them be destroyed by the threatening look on your face.

¹⁷ Let your power rest on the man you have chosen,
the son of man you strengthened for yourself.
¹⁸ Then we will never turn away from you.
Give us life again, and we will call on you.

¹⁹ O Lord God, commander of armies, restore us, and smile on us
so that we may be saved.

I heard a message I did not understand:
⁶ “I removed the burden from his shoulder.
His hands were freed from the basket.
⁷ When you were in trouble, you called out ⌞to me⌟, and I rescued you.
I was hidden in thunder, but I answered you.
I tested your ⌞loyalty⌟ at the oasis of Meribah. Selah
⁸ Listen, my people, and I will warn you.
Israel, if you would only listen to me!
⁹ Never keep any strange god among you.
Never worship a foreign god.
¹⁰ I am the Lord your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

¹¹ “But my people did not listen to me.
Israel wanted nothing to do with me.
¹² So I let them go their own stubborn ways
and follow their own advice.
¹³ If only my people would listen to me!
If only Israel would follow me!
¹⁴ I would quickly defeat their enemies.
I would turn my power against their foes.
¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would cringe in front of him,
and their time ⌞for punishment⌟ would last forever.
¹⁶ But I would feed Israel with the finest wheat
and satisfy them with honey from a rock.”

³ Defend weak people and orphans.
Protect the rights of the oppressed and the poor.
⁴ Rescue weak and needy people.
Help them escape the power of wicked people.

⁵ Wicked people do not know or understand anything.
As they walk around in the dark,
all the foundations of the earth shake.
⁶ I said, “You are gods.
You are all sons of the Most High.
⁷ You will certainly die like humans
and fall like any prince.”

⁸ Arise, O God!
Judge the earth, because all the nations belong to you.

² Look, your enemies are in an uproar.
Those who hate you hold their heads high.
³ They make plans in secret against your people
and plot together against those you treasure.
⁴ They say, “Let’s wipe out their nation
so that the name of Israel will no longer be remembered.”
⁵ They agree completely on their plan.
They form an alliance against you:
⁶ the tents from Edom and Ishmael,
Moab and Hagar,
⁷ Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,
Philistia, along with those who live in Tyre.
⁸ Even Assyria has joined them.
They helped the descendants of Lot. Selah
⁹ Do to them what you did to Midian,
to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.
¹⁰ They were destroyed at Endor.
They became manure to fertilize the ground.
¹¹ Treat their influential people as you treated Oreb and Zeeb.
Treat all their leaders like Zebah and Zalmunna.
¹² They said, “Let’s take God’s pasturelands for ourselves.”
¹³ O my God, blow them away like tumbleweeds,^[g]
like husks in the wind.
¹⁴ Pursue them with your storms,
and terrify them with your windstorms
¹⁵ the way fire burns a forest
and flames set mountains on fire.^[h]
16 Let their faces blush with shame, O Lord,
so that they must look to you for help.
¹⁷ Let them be put to shame and terrified forever.
Let them die in disgrace
¹⁸ so that they must acknowledge you.
Your name is the Lord.
You alone are the Most High God of the whole earth.

⁵ Blessed are those who find strength in you.
Their hearts are on the road ⌞that leads to you⌟.
⁶ As they pass through a valley where balsam trees grow,^[i]
they make it a place of springs.
The early rains cover it with blessings.^[j]
7 Their strength grows as they go along
until each one of them appears
in front of God in Zion.

⁸ O Lord God, commander of armies, hear my prayer.
Open your ears, O God of Jacob. Selah
⁹ Look at our shield, O God.
Look with favor on the face of your anointed one.
¹⁰ One day in your courtyards is better than a thousand ⌞anywhere else⌟.
I would rather stand in the entrance to my God’s house
than live inside wicked people’s homes.
¹¹ The Lord God is a sun and shield.
The Lord grants favor and honor.
He does not hold back any blessing
from those who live innocently.

¹² O Lord of Armies, blessed is the person who trusts you.

⁴ Restore us, O God, our savior.
Put an end to your anger against us.
⁵ Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you ever let go of your anger in the generations to come?
⁶ Won’t you restore our lives again
so that your people may find joy in you?
⁷ Show us your mercy, O Lord,
by giving us your salvation.

⁸ I want to hear what God the Lord says,
because he promises peace to his people, to his godly ones.
But they must not go back to their stupidity.
⁹ Indeed, his salvation is near those who fear him,
and ⌞his⌟ glory will remain in our land.

¹⁰ Mercy and truth have met.
Righteousness and peace have kissed.
¹¹ Truth sprouts from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
¹² The Lord will certainly give us what is good,
and our land will produce crops.
¹³ Righteousness will go ahead of him
and make a path for his steps.

⁸ No god is like you, O Lord.
No one can do what you do.
⁹ All the nations that you have made
will bow in your presence, O Lord.
They will honor you.
¹⁰ Indeed, you are great, a worker of miracles.
You alone are God.
¹¹ Teach me your way, O Lord,
so that I may live in your truth.
Focus my heart on fearing you.
¹² I will give thanks to you with all my heart, O Lord my God.
I will honor you forever
¹³ because your mercy toward me is great.
You have rescued me from the depths of hell.

¹⁴ O God, arrogant people attack me,
and a mob of ruthless people seeks my life.
They think nothing of you.
¹⁵ But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and merciful God.
You are patient, always faithful and ready to forgive.
¹⁶ Turn toward me, and have pity on me.
Give me your strength because I am your servant.
Save me because I am the son of your female servant.
¹⁷ Grant me some proof of your goodness
so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame.
You, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

⁴ ⌞The Lord says,⌟ “I will add Egypt and Babylon
as well as Philistia, Tyre, and Sudan
to the list of those who acknowledge me.
Each nation ⌞will claim that it⌟ was born there.”

⁵ But it will be said of Zion,
“Every race is born in it.
The Most High will make it secure.”
⁶ The Lord will record this in the Book of Nations:
“Every race ⌞claims that it⌟ was born there.” Selah
⁷ Singers and dancers will sing,
“Zion is the source of all our blessings.”

¹⁰ Will you perform miracles for those who are dead?
Will the spirits of the dead rise and give thanks to you? Selah
¹¹ Will anyone tell about your mercy in Sheol
or about your faithfulness in Abaddon?
¹² Will anyone know about your miracles in that dark place
or about your righteousness in the place where forgotten people live?

¹³ I cry out to you for help, O Lord,
and in the morning my prayer will come into your presence.

¹⁴ Why do you reject my soul, O Lord?
Why do you hide your face from me?
¹⁵ Ever since I was young, I have been suffering and near death.
I have endured your terrors, and now I am in despair.
¹⁶ Your burning anger has swept over me.
Your terrors have destroyed me.
¹⁷ They swirl around me all day long like water.
They surround me on all sides.
¹⁸ You have taken my loved ones and friends far away from me.
Darkness is my only friend!

³ ⌞You said,⌟ “I have made a promise ^[l] to my chosen one.
I swore this oath to my servant David:
⁴ ‘I will make your dynasty continue forever.
I built your throne to last throughout every generation.’ ” Selah

⁵ O Lord, the heavens praise your miracles
and your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
⁶ Who in the skies can compare with the Lord?
Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord?
⁷ God is terrifying in the council of the holy ones.
He is greater and more awe-inspiring than those who surround him.
⁸ O Lord God of Armies, who is like you?
Mighty Lord, even your faithfulness surrounds you.
⁹ You rule the raging sea.
When its waves rise, you quiet them.
¹⁰ You crushed Rahab; ^[m] it was like a corpse.
With your strong arm you scattered your enemies.
¹¹ The heavens are yours.
The earth is also yours.
You made the world and everything in it.
¹² You created north and south.
Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon sing your name joyfully.
¹³ Your arm is mighty.
Your hand is strong.
Your right hand is lifted high.
¹⁴ Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne.
Mercy and truth stand in front of you.
¹⁵ Blessed are the people who know how to praise you.
They walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.
¹⁶ They find joy in your name all day long.
They are joyful in your righteousness
¹⁷ because you are the glory of their strength.
By your favor you give us victory.
¹⁸ Our shield belongs to the Lord.
Our king belongs to the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁹ Once in a vision you said to your faithful ones:
“I set a boy above warriors.
I have raised up one chosen from the people.
²⁰ I found my servant David.
I anointed him with my holy oil.
²¹ My hand is ready to help him.
My arm will also give him strength.
²² No enemy will take him by surprise.
No wicked person will mistreat him.
²³ I will crush his enemies in front of him
and defeat those who hate him.
²⁴ My faithfulness and mercy will be with him,
and in my name he will be victorious.
²⁵ I will put his ⌞left⌟ hand on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
²⁶ He will call out to me,
‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.’
²⁷ Yes, I will make him the firstborn.
He will be the Most High to the kings of the earth.
²⁸ My mercy will stay with him forever.
My promise to him is unbreakable.
²⁹ I will make his dynasty endure forever
and his throne like the days of heaven.

³⁰ “If his descendants abandon my teachings
and do not live by my rules,
³¹ if they violate my laws
and do not obey my commandments,
³² then with a rod I will punish their rebellion
and their crimes with beatings.
³³ But I will not take my mercy away from him
or allow my truth to become a lie.
³⁴ I will not dishonor my promise
or alter my own agreement.
³⁵ On my holiness I have taken an oath once and for all:
I will not lie to David.
³⁶ His dynasty will last forever.
His throne will be in my presence like the sun.
³⁷ Like the moon his throne will stand firm forever.
It will be like a faithful witness in heaven.”

³⁸ But you have despised, rejected,
and become angry with your anointed one.
³⁹ You have refused to recognize the promise to your servant
and have thrown his crown into the dirt.
⁴⁰ You have broken through all his walls
and have laid his fortified cities in ruins.
⁴¹ (Everyone who passed by robbed him.
He has become the object of his neighbors’ scorn.)
⁴² You held the right hand of his enemies high
and made all of his adversaries rejoice.
⁴³ You even took his sword out of his hand
and failed to support him in battle.
⁴⁴ You put an end to his splendor
and hurled his throne to the ground.
⁴⁵ You cut short the days of his youth
and covered him with shame. Selah

⁴⁶ How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your anger continue to burn like fire?
⁴⁷ Remember how short my life is!
Have you created Adam’s descendants for no reason?
⁴⁸ Can a mortal go on living and never see death?
Who can set himself free from the power of the grave? Selah
⁴⁹ Where is the evidence of your mercy, Lord?
You swore an oath to David on ⌞the basis of⌟ your faithfulness.

⁵⁰ Remember, O Lord,^[n] how your servant ^[o] has been insulted.
Remember how I have carried in my heart ⌞the insults⌟ from so many people.
⁵¹ Your enemies insulted ⌞me⌟.
They insulted your Messiah ^[p] every step he took.

⁵² Thank the Lord forever.
Amen and amen!