I Will Sing of Loving Kindness Forever
1 A contemplation by Ethan, the Ezrahite. I will sing of the loving kindness of Yahweh forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. 2 I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever. You established the heavens. Your faithfulness is in them.” 3 “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 to all generations.’” Selah. 5 The heavens will praise your wonders, Yahweh, your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones. 6 For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh? Who among the sons of the heavenly beings is like Yahweh, 7 a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones, to be feared above all those who are around him? 8 Yahweh, God of Armies, who is a mighty one, like you? Yah, your faithfulness is around you. 9 You rule the pride of the sea. When its waves rise up, you calm them. 10 You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain. You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. 11 The heavens are yours. The earth also is yours, the world and its fullness. You have founded them. 12 You have created the north and the south. Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name. 13 You have a mighty arm. Your hand is strong, and your right hand is exalted. 14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Loving kindness and truth go before your face. 15 Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you. They walk in the light of your presence, Yahweh. 16 In your name they rejoice all day. In your righteousness, they are exalted. 17 For you are the glory of their strength. In your favor, our horn will be exalted. 18 For our shield belongs to Yahweh, our king to the Holy One of Israel. 19 Then you spoke in vision to your saints, and said, “I have given strength to the warrior. I have exalted a young man from the people. 20 I have found David, my servant. I have anointed him with my holy oil, 21 with whom my hand shall be established. My arm will also strengthen him. 22 No enemy will tax him. No wicked man will oppress him. 23 I will beat down his adversaries before him, and strike those who hate him. 24 But my faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him. In my name, his horn will be exalted. 25 I will set his hand also on the sea, and his right hand on the rivers. 26 He will call to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation!’ 27 I will also appoint him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. 28 I will keep my loving kindness for him forever more. My covenant will stand firm with him. 29 I will also make his offspring endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. 30 If his children forsake my law, and don’t walk in my ordinances; 31 if they break my statutes, and don’t keep my commandments; 32 then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. 33 But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail. 34 I will not break my covenant, nor alter what my lips have uttered. 35 Once I have sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David. 36 His offspring will endure forever, his throne like the sun before me. 37 It will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah.
God's oath to David is quoted at length and in his own voice, with the clause about what happens when the sons fail.
A contemplation by Ethan, the Ezrahite. I will sing of the loving kindness of Yahweh forever. With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
Two words dominate this psalm and appear together more than a dozen times: loving kindness and faithfulness. They are the covenant pair, and everything in the first thirty-seven verses is built on them.
3 “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 to all generations.’” Selah.
The promise of 2 Samuel 7, quoted in God's own voice. The psalm's whole crisis, when it comes, is about this sentence.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Loving kindness and truth go before your face.
Four qualities again, as in the eighty-fifth psalm. Two are underneath the throne and two walk ahead of it — what God's government stands on, and what arrives before he does.
Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you. They walk in the light of your presence, Yahweh.
The verb is learn. Acclamation is treated as a skill acquired rather than a reflex, which is what a hymnbook is for.
I have found David, my servant. I have anointed him with my holy oil,
The oracle proper begins, and it runs for eighteen verses in the first person. I will also appoint him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth Psalms 89:27 — firstborn is a rank here rather than a birth order, since David was the youngest of eight.
He will call to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation!’
The father-son language of the second psalm returns, and it is the covenant's characteristic vocabulary.
30 If his children forsake my law, and don’t walk in my ordinances; 31 if they break my statutes, and don’t keep my commandments; 32 then I will punish their sin with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
The clause everything turns on. The covenant anticipates failure and specifies discipline for it — which means that when the disaster of the second half arrives, it does not fall outside the agreement.
33 But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail. 34 I will not break my covenant, nor alter what my lips have uttered.
And the limit on the discipline, stated four ways in two verses. Punishment yes; withdrawal no.
Once I have sworn by my holiness, I will not lie to David.
God swears by the only thing he could swear by, and the letter to the Hebrews makes the same observation about the oath to Abraham — having no one greater, he swore by himself Hebrews 6:13.
36 His offspring will endure forever, his throne like the sun before me. 37 It will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah.
The first half ends with two guarantees hung in the sky where anyone can check them. The next verse begins but.
settled What this mark means