1I WILL sing of the mercy {and} loving-kindness of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness from generation to generation.
2For I have said, Mercy {and} loving-kindness shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness will You establish in the very heavens [unchangeable and perpetual].
3[You have said] I have made a covenant with My chosen one, I have sworn to David My servant,
4Your Seed I will establish forever, and I will build up your throne for all generations. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
5Let heaven (the angels) praise Your wonders, O Lord, Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones (the holy angels).
6For who in the heavens can be compared to the Lord? Who among the mighty [heavenly beings] can be likened to the Lord,
7A God greatly feared {and} revered in the council of the holy (angelic) ones, and to be feared {and} worshipfully revered above all those who are round about Him?
8O Lord God of hosts, who is a mighty one like unto You, O Lord? And Your faithfulness is round about You [an essential part of You at all times].
9You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves arise, You still them.
10You have broken Rahab (Egypt) in pieces; with Your mighty arm You have scattered Your enemies.
11The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; the world and all that is in it, You have founded them.
12The north and the south, You have created them; Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon joyously praise Your name.
13You have a mighty arm; strong is Your hand, Your right hand is soaring high.
14Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy {and} loving-kindness and truth go before Your face.
15Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are the people who know the joyful sound [who understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings symbolized by the feasts]; they walk, O Lord, in the light {and} favor of Your countenance!
16In Your name they rejoice all the day, and in Your righteousness they are exalted.
17For You are the glory of their strength [their proud adornment], and by Your favor our horn is exalted {and} we walk with uplifted faces!
18For our shield belongs to the Lord, and our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19Once You spoke in a vision to Your devoted ones and said, I have endowed one who is mighty [a hero, giving him the power to help--to be a champion for Israel]; I have exalted one chosen from among the people.
20I have found David My servant; with My holy oil have I anointed him,
21With whom My hand shall be established {and} ever abide; My arm also shall strengthen him.
22The enemy shall not exact from him {or} do him violence {or} outwit him, nor shall the wicked afflict {and} humble him.
23I will beat down his foes before his face and smite those who hate him.
24My faithfulness and My mercy {and} loving-kindness shall be with him, and in My name shall his horn be exalted [great power and prosperity shall be conferred upon him].
25I will set his hand in control also on the [Mediterranean] Sea, and his right hand on the rivers [Euphrates with its tributaries].
26He shall cry to Me, You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation!
27Also I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
28My mercy {and} loving-kindness will I keep for him forevermore, and My covenant shall stand fast {and} be faithful with him.
29His Offspring also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
30If his children forsake My law and walk not in My ordinances,
31If they break {or} profane My statutes and keep not My commandments,
32Then will I punish their transgression with the rod [of chastisement], and their iniquity with stripes.
33Nevertheless, My loving-kindness will I not break off from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail [to lie and be false to him].
34My covenant will I not break {or} profane, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips.
35Once [for all] have I sworn by My holiness, which cannot be violated; I will not lie to David:
36His Offspring shall endure forever, and his throne [shall continue] as the sun before Me.
37It shall be established forever as the moon, the faithful witness in the heavens. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
38But [in apparent contradiction to all this] You [even You the faithful Lord] have cast off and rejected; You have been full of wrath against Your anointed.
39You have despised {and} loathed and renounced the covenant with Your servant; You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.
40You have broken down all his hedges {and} his walls; You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
41All who pass along the road spoil {and} rob him; he has become the scorn {and} reproach of his neighbors.
42You have exalted the right hand of his foes; You have made all his enemies rejoice.
43Moreover, You have turned back the edge of his sword and have not made him to stand in battle.
44You have made his glory {and} splendor to cease and have hurled to the ground his throne.
45The days of his youth have You shortened; You have covered him with shame. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!
46How long, O Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever? How long shall Your wrath burn like fire?
47O [earnestly] remember how short my time is {and} what a mere fleeting life mine is. For what emptiness, falsity, futility, {and} frailty You have created all men!
48What man can live and shall not see death, or can deliver himself from the [powerful] hand of Sheol (the place of the dead)? Selah [pause, and calmly consider that]!
49Lord, where are Your former loving-kindnesses [shown in the reigns of David and Solomon], which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?
50Remember, Lord, {and} earnestly imprint [on Your heart] the reproach of Your servants, scorned {and} insulted, how I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many {and} mighty peoples,
51With which Your enemies have taunted, O Lord, with which they have mocked the footsteps of Your anointed.
52Blessed be the Lord forevermore! Amen and Amen.