The Book of Psalms
Chapter 88
1 – Of understanding, for Ethan the Ezrahite.
2 – The mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever. I will shew forth thy truth with my mouth to generation and generation.
3 – For thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens: thy truth shall be prepared in them.
4 – I have made a covenant with my elect: I have sworn to David my servant:
5 – Thy seed will I settle for ever. And I will build up thy throne unto generation and generation.
6 – The heavens shall confess thy wonders, O Lord: and thy truth in the church of the saints.
7 – For who in the clouds can be compared to the Lord: or who among the sons of God shall be like to God?
8 – God, who is glorified in the assembly of the saints: great and terrible above all them that are about him.
9 – O Lord God of hosts, who is like to thee? thou art mighty, O Lord, and thy truth is round about thee.
10 – Thou rulest the power of the sea: and appeasest the motion of the waves thereof.
11 – Thou hast humbled the proud one, as one that is slain: with the arm of thy strength thou hast scattered thy enemies.
12 – Thine are the heavens, and thine is the earth: the world and the fulness thereof thou hast founded:
13 – the north and the sea thou hast created. Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name:
14 – thy arm is with might. Let thy hand be strengthened, and thy right hand exalted:
15 – justice and judgment are the preparation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face:
16 – blessed is the people that knoweth jubilation. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance:
17 – and in thy name they shall rejoice all the day, and in thy justice they shall be exalted.
18 – For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy good pleasure shall our horn be exalted.
19 – For our protection is of the Lord, and of our king the holy one of Israel.
20 – 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.
21 – I have found David my servant: with my holy oil I have anointed him.
22 – For my hand shall help him: and my arm shall strengthen him.
23 – The enemy shall have no advantage over him: nor the son of iniquity have power to hurt him.
24 – And I will cut down his enemies before his face; and them that hate him I will put to flight.
25 – And my truth and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
26 – And I will set his hand in the sea; and his right hand in the rivers.
27 – He shall cry out to me: Thou art my father: my God, and the support of my salvation.
28 – And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth.
29 – I will keep my mercy for him for ever: and my covenant faithful to him.
30 – And I will make his seed to endure for evermore: and his throne as the days of heaven.
31 – And if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments:
32 – If they profane my justices: and keep not my commandments:
33 – I will visit their iniquities with a rod: and their sins with stripes.
34 – But my mercy I will not take away from him: nor will I suffer my truth to fail.
35 – Neither will I profane my covenant: and the words that proceed from my mouth I will not make void.
36 – Once have I sworn by my holiness: I will not lie unto David:
37 – his seed shall endure for ever.
38 – And his throne as the sun before me: and as the moon perfect for ever, and a faithful witness in heaven.
39 – But thou hast rejected and despised: thou hast been angry with thy anointed.
40 – Thou hast overthrown the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his sanctuary on the earth.
41 – Thou hast broken down all his hedges: thou hast made his strength fear.
42 – All that pass by the way have robbed him: he is become a reproach to his neighbours.
43 – Thou hast set up the right hand of them that oppress him: thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
44 – Thou hast turned away the help of his sword; and hast not assisted him in battle.
45 – Thou hast made his purification to cease: and thou hast cast his throne down to the ground.
46 – Thou hast shortened the days of his time: thou hast covered him with confusion.
47 – How long, O Lord, turnest thou away unto the end? shall thy anger burn like fire?
48 – Remember what my substance is for hast thou made all the children of men in vain?
49 – Who is the man that shall live, and not see death: that shall deliver his soul from the hand of hell?
50 – Lord, where are thy ancient mercies, according to what thou didst swear to David in thy truth?
51 – Be mindful, O Lord, of the reproach of thy servants (which I have held in my bosom) of many nations:
52 – Wherewith thy enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the change of thy anointed.
53 – Blessed be the Lord for evermore. So be it. So be it.
The Catholic Bible Online. Scriptures are from The Douay Rheims Catholic Bible 1582-1610 a.d. Version In the Public Domain. The Douay Rheims Bible is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English undertaken by members of the English College, Douai in the service of the Catholic Church.