English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
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Your love, God, is my song, and I'll sing it! I'm forever telling everyone how faithful you are.
2 For I said, "Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness."
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I'll never quit telling the story of your love - how you built the cosmos and guaranteed everything in it. Your love has always been our lives' foundation, your fidelity has been the roof over our world.
3 You have said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant:
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You once said, "I joined forces with my chosen leader, I pledged my word to my servant, David, saying,
4 'I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.'" Selah
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'Everyone descending from you is guaranteed life; I'll make your rule as solid and lasting as rock.'"
5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
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God! Let the cosmos praise your wonderful ways, the choir of holy angels sing anthems to your faithful ways!
6 For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD,
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Search high and low, scan skies and land, you'll find nothing and no one quite like God.
7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him?
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The holy angels are in awe before him; he looms immense and august over everyone around him.
8 O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD, with your faithfulness all around you?
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God of the Angel Armies, who is like you, powerful and faithful from every angle?
9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.
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You put the arrogant ocean in its place and calm its waves when they turn unruly.
10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
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You gave that old hag Egypt the back of your hand, you brushed off your enemies with a flick of your wrist.
11 The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.
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You own the cosmos - you made everything in it, everything from atom to archangel.
12 The north and the south, you have created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.
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You positioned the North and South Poles; the mountains Tabor and Hermon sing duets to you.
13 You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand.
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With your well-muscled arm and your grip of steel - nobody trifles with you!
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
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The Right and Justice are the roots of your rule; Love and Truth are its fruits.
15 Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O LORD, in the light of your face,
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Blessed are the people who know the passwords of praise, who shout on parade in the bright presence of God.
16 who exult in your name all the day and in your righteousness are exalted.
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Delighted, they dance all day long; they know who you are, what you do - they can't keep it quiet!
17 For you are the glory of their strength; by your favor our horn is exalted.
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Your vibrant beauty has gotten inside us - you've been so good to us! We're walking on air!
18 For our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One of Israel.
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All we are and have we owe to God, Holy God of Israel, our King!
19 Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one, and said: "I have granted help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people.
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A long time ago you spoke in a vision, you spoke to your faithful beloved: "I've crowned a hero, I chose the best I could find;
20 I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him,
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I found David, my servant, poured holy oil on his head,
21 so that my hand shall be established with him; my arm also shall strengthen him.
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And I'll keep my hand steadily on him, yes, I'll stick with him through thick and thin.
22 The enemy shall not outwit him; the wicked shall not humble him.
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No enemy will get the best of him, no scoundrel will do him in.
23 I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.
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I'll weed out all who oppose him, I'll clean out all who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
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I'm with him for good and I'll love him forever; I've set him on high - he's riding high!
25 I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers.
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I've put Ocean in his one hand, River in the other;
26 He shall cry to me, 'You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.'
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he'll call out, 'Oh, my Father - my God, my Rock of Salvation!'
27 And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
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Yes, I'm setting him apart as the First of the royal line, High King over all of earth's kings.
28 My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him.
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I'll preserve him eternally in my love, I'll faithfully do all I so solemnly promised.
29 I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.
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I'll guarantee his family tree and underwrite his rule.
30 If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules,
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If his children refuse to do what I tell them, if they refuse to walk in the way I show them,
31 if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments,
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If they spit on the directions I give them and tear up the rules I post for them
32 then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes,
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- I'll rub their faces in the dirt of their rebellion and make them face the music.
33 but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness.
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But I'll never throw them out, never abandon or disown them.
34 I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
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Do you think I'd withdraw my holy promise? or take back words I'd already spoken?
35 Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David.
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I've given my word, my whole and holy word; do you think I would lie to David?
36 His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me.
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His family tree is here for good, his sovereignty as sure as the sun,
37 Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies." Selah
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Dependable as the phases of the moon, inescapable as weather."
38 But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed.
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But God, you did walk off and leave us, you lost your temper with the one you anointed.
39 You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust.
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You tore up the promise you made to your servant, you stomped his crown in the mud.
40 You have breached all his walls; you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
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You blasted his home to kingdom come, reduced his city to a pile of rubble
41 All who pass by plunder him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
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Picked clean by wayfaring strangers, a joke to all the neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice.
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You declared a holiday for all his enemies, and they're celebrating for all they're worth.
43 You have also turned back the edge of his sword, and you have not made him stand in battle.
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Angry, you opposed him in battle, refused to fight on his side;
44 You have made his splendor to cease and cast his throne to the ground.
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You robbed him of his splendor, humiliated this warrior, ground his kingly honor in the dirt.
45 You have cut short the days of his youth; you have covered him with shame. Selah
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You took the best years of his life and left him an impotent, ruined husk.
46 How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?
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How long do we put up with this, God? Are you gone for good? Will you hold this grudge forever?
47 Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
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Remember my sorrow and how short life is. Did you create men and women for nothing but this?
48 What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah
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We'll see death soon enough. Everyone does. And there's no back door out of hell.
49 Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?
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So where is the love you're so famous for, Lord? What happened to your promise to David?
50 Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,
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Take a good look at your servant, dear Lord; I'm the butt of the jokes of all nations,
51 with which your enemies mock, O LORD, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.
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The taunting jokes of your enemies, God, as they dog the steps of your dear anointed.
52 Blessed be the LORD forever! Amen and Amen.
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Blessed be God forever and always! Yes. Oh, yes.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.