Font Size
Psalm 89:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 89:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 89[a]
Prayer for the Fulfillment of God’s Promise
1 A maskil[b] of Ethan the Ezrahite.
2 [c]I will sing forever of the Lord’s kindness;
with my lips I will proclaim your faithfulness[d]
throughout the generations.
3 You said, “My kindness lasts forever;
my faithfulness is as firmly established as the heavens.
Footnotes
- Psalm 89:1 This psalm constitutes a beautiful hymn to God the Creator and a grand acclamation to the Lord who has given his word and his promise to Israel. And although the facts in Israel’s history seem to give the lie to such splendid visions, the believer refuses to rely on appearances. God’s word and his promise are solid in spite of a temporary present roadblock, as a long history bears witness. The temporary roadblock may have been the attack on Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the exile of King Jehoiachin in 597 B.C. (see 2 Ki 24:8-17) or the disappearance of the Davidic dynasty after the Exile (from the sixth century on).
The psalmist sketches a wonderful catalog of God’s work: the origins of the world and the election of David; the order of the cosmos and the stability of the royal throne; heaven and earth and the present, past, and future. In time of incertitude, one must make use of this sublime contemplation and continue to believe in the faithfulness of God. Then the Messianic Hope will be renewed; it is the expectation of the coming of the Lord by his anointed, the Messiah.
Through David, it is principally to his Son, Jesus Christ, that God the Father promised love and faithfulness, prosperity and perpetual royal stability upon the new Israel, the Church. Even though catastrophes of all kinds seem to belie God’s loving faithfulness, we can pray this psalm with complete confidence. - Psalm 89:1 Maskil: see note on Ps 32:1a. Ethan the Ezrahite: he is thought to be the son of Zerah (hence, Ezrahite) and member of the tribe of Judah (see 1 Chr 2:6) as well as founder of one of the three choirs (see 1 Chr 15:19) and identical with the Jeduthun of Ps 39 (see 2 Chr 5:12).
- Psalm 89:2 God is true. If anything is certain, it is his kindness and faithfulness. They endure without fail in creation, and they endure in the covenant with David (see 2 Sam 7:8-16; 1 Chr 17:10-15), on which Israel’s Messianic Hope is based.
- Psalm 89:2 Kindness . . . faithfulness: see notes on Pss 6:5; 36:6f. These words are each repeated eight times in the psalm. Kindness: verses 2-3, 15, 18, 25, 29, 34, 50, and faithfulness: verses 2-3, 6, 9, 15, 25, 34, 50.
