
Day 17 : Evening Prayer

89 - Misericordias Domini

1   My song shall be always of the loving-kindness of the Lord; *
    with my mouth will I ever be proclaiming your faithfulness, from one generation to another.

2   For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up for ever; *
    your faithfulness shall be established in the heavens.”

3   I have made a covenant with my chosen one; *
    I have sworn to David my servant:

4   “Your seed will I establish for ever, *
    and set up your throne from one generation to another.”

5   O Lord, the heavens will praise your wondrous works *
    and your faithfulness in the assembly of the saints.

6   For who in the clouds can be compared unto the Lord? *
    And who among the gods is like unto the Lord?

7   God is greatly to be feared in the council of the saints, *
    and to be held in reverence by all those who are round about him.

8   O Lord God of hosts, who is like you? *
    Your faithfulness, most mighty Lord, is round about you.

9   You rule the raging of the sea; *
    you still the waves when they arise.

10  You have subdued Rahab of the deep, and destroyed her; *
    you have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

11  The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; *
    you laid the foundation of the world, and all that is in it.

12  You have made the north and the south; *
    Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in your Name.

13  You have a mighty arm; *
    strong is your hand, and high is your right hand.

14  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; *
    mercy and truth shall go before your face.

15  Blessed are the people, O Lord, who rejoice in you; *
    they shall walk in the light of your countenance.

16  Their delight shall be in your Name all the day long, *
    and in your righteousness shall they make their boast.

17  For you are the glory of their strength, *
    and by your favor you shall lift up our might.

18  For the Lord is our defense; *
    the Holy One of Israel is our King.

19  You spoke in a vision to your saints, and said, *
    “I have set the crown upon one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

20  I have found David my servant; *
    with my holy oil have I anointed him.

21  My hand shall hold him fast, *
    and my arm shall strengthen him.

22  The enemy shall not be able to do him violence; *
    the son of wickedness shall not hurt him.

23  I will smite his foes before his face *
    and strike down those who hate him.

24  My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him, *
    and in my Name shall his horn be exalted.

25  I will give him dominion over the sea, *
    and with his right hand shall he rule the rivers.

26  He shall say to me, “You are my Father, *
    my God, and the rock of my salvation.”

27  And I will make him my firstborn, *
    higher than the kings of the earth.

28  My mercy will I keep for him for ever, *
    and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

29  His seed will I make to endure for ever *
    and his throne as the days of heaven.

30  But if his children forsake my law, *
    and do not walk in my judgments,

31  If they break my statutes and do not keep my commandments, *
    I will punish their offenses with the rod, and their sin with scourges.

32  Nevertheless, my loving-kindness I will not utterly take from him, *
    nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.

33  My covenant I will not break, *
    nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips.

34  I have sworn once by my holiness *
    that I will not fail David.

35  His seed shall endure for ever *
    and his throne as the sun before me.

36  It shall endure for evermore as the moon, *
    and as the faithful witness in the heavens.

37  But you have rejected and forsaken your Anointed; *
    you are full of wrath against him.

38  You have broken the covenant with your servant; *
    you have defiled his crown and cast it to the ground.

39  You have overthrown all his walls *
    and broken down his strongholds.

40  All those who go by plunder him, *
    and he has become a reproach to his neighbors.

41  You have exalted the right hand of his enemies, *
    and made all his adversaries rejoice.

42  You have turned back the edge of his sword *
    and have not given him victory in the battle.

43  You have taken away his glory *
    and cast his throne down to the ground.

44  The days of his youth you have shortened *
    and covered him with dishonor.

45  Lord, how long will you utterly hide yourself ? *
    How long shall your wrath burn like fire?

46  O remember how short my time is; *
    why have you made all people for nought?

47  What man is there who lives and shall not see death, *
    and shall deliver his soul from the power of the Grave?

48  Lord, where are your loving-kindnesses of old, *
    which you swore to David in your faithfulness?

49  Remember, Lord, how your servants are reproached, *
    and how I bear in my bosom the rebukes of many people;

50  Remember how your enemies have reproached you, O Lord, *
    how they have called after your Anointed King with cries of scorn. 

51  Praised be the Lord for evermore. *
    Amen and Amen.
