Psalms 89:1-37

1 O Lord, I will always sing of your constant love; I will proclaim your faithfulness forever.

2 I know that your love will last for all time, that your faithfulness is as permanent as the sky.

3 You said, "I have made a covenant with the man I chose; I have promised my servant David,

4 "A descendant of yours will always be king; ¹ I will preserve your dynasty forever.' "

5 The heavens sing of the wonderful things you do; the holy ones sing of your faithfulness, Lord.

6 No one in heaven is like you, Lord; none of the heavenly beings is your equal.

7 You are feared in the council of the holy ones; they all stand in awe of you.

8 Lord God Almighty, none is as mighty as you; in all things you are faithful, O Lord.

9 You rule over the powerful sea; you calm its angry waves.

10 You crushed the monster Rahab and killed it; with your mighty strength you defeated your enemies.

11 Heaven is yours, the earth also; you made the world and everything in it.

12 You created the north and the south; Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon sing to you for joy.

13 How powerful you are! How great is your strength!

14 Your kingdom is founded on righteousness and justice; love and faithfulness are shown in all you do.

15 How happy are the people who worship you with songs, who live in the light of your kindness!

16 Because of you they rejoice all day long, and they praise you for your goodness.

17 You give us great victories; in your love you make us triumphant.

18 You, O Lord, chose our protector; you, the Holy God of Israel, gave us our king.

19 In a vision long ago you said to your faithful servants, "I have given help to a famous soldier; I have given the throne to one I chose from the people.

20 I have made my servant David king ² by anointing him with holy oil.

21 My strength will always be with him, my power will make him strong.

22 His enemies will never succeed against him; the wicked will not defeat him.

23 I will crush his foes and kill everyone who hates him.

24 I will love him and be loyal to him; I will make him always victorious.

25 I will extend his kingdom from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates River.

26 He will say to me, "You are my father and my God; you are my protector and savior.'

27 I will make him my first-born son, ³ the greatest of all kings.

28 I will always keep my promise to him, and my covenant with him will last forever.

29 His dynasty will be as permanent as the sky; a descendant of his will always be king.

30 "But if his descendants disobey my law and do not live according to my commands,

31 if they disregard my instructions and do not keep my commandments,

32 then I will punish them for their sins; I will make them suffer for their wrongs.

33 But I will not stop loving David or fail to keep my promise to him.

34 I will not break my covenant with him or take back even one promise I made him.

35 "Once and for all I have promised by my holy name: I will never lie to David.

36 He will always have descendants, and I will watch over his kingdom as long as the sun shines.

37 It will be as permanent as the moon, that faithful witness in the sky."

Psalms 89:1-37 Meaning and Commentary

Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite. Who this Ethan was is not certain. Kimchi takes him to be the same with Ethan the wise man, a grandson of Judah, 1 Kings 4:31. But seeing he lived some hundreds of years before the times of David, it is not likely that he should be the writer of this psalm; for David is made mention of in it, which could not be, unless it can be thought to be by a spirit of prophecy; which indeed is the opinion of Doctor Lightfoot {k}, who takes this Ethan to be the penman of this psalm; and who "from the promise, Genesis 15:1 sings joyfully the deliverance (of Israel); that the raging of the Red sea should be ruled, Psalm 89:9, and Rahab, or Egypt, should be broken in pieces, Psalm 89:10, and that the people should hear the joyful sound of the law, Psalm 89:15, and as for the name of David in it, this, he says, might be done prophetically; as Samuel is thought to be named by Moses, Psalm 99:6, which psalm is held to be made by him; or else might be put into it, in later times, by some divine penman, endued with the same gift of prophecy, who might improve the ground work of this psalm laid by Ethan, and set it to an higher key; namely, that whereas he treated only of bodily deliverance from Egypt, it is wound up so high as to reach the spiritual delivery by Christ; and therefore David is often named, from whence he should come."

There was another Ethan, a singer, in David's time; and it is more probable that he is the person, who might live to the times of Rehoboam, and see the decline of David's family, and the revolt of the ten tribes from it; or perhaps it was one of this name who lived in the times of the Babylonish captivity, and saw the low estate that David's family were come into; to which agrees the latter part of this psalm; and, in order to comfort the people of God, he wrote this psalm, showing that the covenant and promises of God, made with David, nevertheless stood firm, and would be accomplished: the title of the Septuagint version calls him Etham the Israelite; and the Arabic version Nathan the Israelite: the Targum makes him to be Abraham, paraphrasing it "a good understanding, which was said by the hand of Abraham, that came from the east."

But whoever was the penman of this psalm, it is "maschil," an instructive psalm, a psalm causing to understand; it treats concerning the covenant of grace, and the promises of it; and concerning the mercy and faithfulness of God, in making and keeping the same; and concerning the Messiah and his seed, his church and people; and the stability and duration of all these: many passages in it are applied to the Messiah by Jewish writers, ancient and modern; and Psalm 89:20 is manifestly referred to in Acts 13:22.

Cross References

• 1. 89.4 2 S 7.12-16;1 Chronicles 17.11-14;Psalms 132.11;Acts 2.30.
• 2. 89.20 a 1 S 13.14;Acts 13.22; b 1 S 16.12.
• 3. 89.27Revelation 1.5.

Footnotes

• [a]. rahab: [A legendary sea monster which represented the forces of chaos and evil.]