Chapter 88

  Of understanding, for Ethan the Ezrahite.  

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  The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. I will shew forth thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation.  

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  For thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens: thy truth shall be prepared in them.  

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  I have made a covenant with my elect: I have sworn to David my servant:  

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  Thy seed will I settle for ever. And I will build up thy throne unto generation and generation.  

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  The heavens shall confess thy wonders, O Lord: and thy truth in the church of the saints.  

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  For who in the clouds can be compared to the Lord: or who among the sons of God shall be like to God?  

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  God, who is glorified in the assembly of the saints: great and terrible above all them that are about him.  

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  O Lord God of hosts, who is like to thee? thou art mighty, O Lord, and thy truth is round about thee.  

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  Thou rulest the power of the sea: and appeasest the motion of the waves thereof.  

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  Thou hast humbled the proud one, as one that is slain: with the arm of thy strength thou hast scattered thy enemies.  

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  Thine are the heavens, and thine is the earth: the world and the fulness thereof thou hast founded:  

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  the north and the sea thou hast created. Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name:  

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  thy arm is with might. Let thy hand be strengthened, and thy right hand exalted:  

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  justice and judgment are the preparation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face:  

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  blessed is the people that knoweth jubilation. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance:  

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  and in thy name they shall rejoice all the day, and in thy justice they shall be exalted.  

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  For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy good pleasure shall our horn be exalted.  

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  For our protection is of the Lord, and of our king the holy one of Israel.  

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  Then thou spokest in a vision to thy saints, and saidst: I have laid help upon one that is mighty, and have exalted one chosen out of my people.  

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

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  For my hand shall help him: and my arm shall strengthen him.  

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  The enemy shall have no advantage over him: nor the son of iniquity have power to hurt him.  

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  And I will cut down his enemies before his face; and them that hate him I will put to flight.  

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  And my truth and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.  

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

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  He shall cry out to me: Thou art my father: my God, and the support of my salvation.  

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  And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth.  

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  I will keep my mercy for him for ever: and my covenant faithful to him.  

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  And I will make his seed to endure for evermore: and his throne as the days of heaven.  

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  And if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments:  

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  If they profane my justices: and keep not my commandments:  

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  I will visit their iniquities with a rod: and their sins with stripes.  

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  But my mercy I will not take away from him: nor will I suffer my truth to fail.  

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  Neither will I profane my covenant: and the words that proceed from my mouth I will not make void.  

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

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  his seed shall endure for ever.  

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  And his throne as the sun before me: and as the moon perfect for ever, and a faithful witness in heaven.  

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  But thou hast rejected and despised: thou hast been angry with thy anointed.  

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  Thou hast overthrown the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his sanctuary on the earth.  

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  Thou hast broken down all his hedges: thou hast made his strength fear.  

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  All that pass by the way have robbed him: he is become a reproach to his neighbours.  

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  Thou hast set up the right hand of them that oppress him: thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.  

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  Thou hast turned away the help of his sword; and hast not assisted him in battle.  

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  Thou hast made his purification to cease: and thou hast cast his throne down to the ground.  

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  Thou hast shortened the days of his time: thou hast covered him with confusion.  

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  How long, O Lord, turnest thou away unto the end? shall thy anger burn like fire?  

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  Remember what my substance is for hast thou made all the children of men in vain?  

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  Who is the man that shall live, and not see death: that shall deliver his soul from the hand of hell?  

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  Lord, where are thy ancient mercies, according to what thou didst swear to David in thy truth?  

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  Be mindful, O Lord, of the reproach of thy servants (which I have held in my bosom) of many nations:  

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  Wherewith thy enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the change of thy anointed.  

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  Blessed be the Lord for evermore. So be it. So be it.  

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