1. I will sing of the lovingkindness of Jehovah for ever;
With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to
all generations.
2. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever;
Thy faithfulness wilt thou establish in the very heavens.

1-3. All Divine truth is from the Lord. P. P.

2, 3, 15. See Psalm xxv. 10. A. 6180.

See Psalm xxxvi. 6. A. 10577.

3. I have made a covenant with my chosen,
I have sworn unto David my servant:
4. Thy seed will I establish for ever,
And build up thy throne to all generations. [Selah
5. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Jehovah;
Thy faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
6. For who in the skies can be compared unto Jehovah ?
Who among the sons of the mighty is like unto Jehovah,

3-6. These things also are spoken concerning the Lord,
and not concerning David, for it is said " I have sworn to
David my servant, thy seed will I establish for ever, and
build up thy throne to all generations" which is not applicable
to David, whose seed and throne are not established
to all generations, and yet Jehovah sware, and an
oath of Jehovah is irrevocable confirmation from the
Divine Being. E. 205.                                                                                 

4. That the compact of a covenant on the part of the Lord
is mercy and election is evident. A. 6804.

4, 5. This also is concerning the Lord. To make a covenant
with the chosen, and to swear unto David mean
irrevocable confirmation or eternal. truth. David stands
for the Lord. To make a covenant regards the Divine
good, to swear the Divine truth. A. 2842.

By the seed of David is not meant the posterity of David
as a father, for this was not so much multiplied, nor of so
much importance that it should be multiplied as the army
of the heavens, and as the sand of the sea, but by David
is meant the Lord as to Divine truth, thus by his seed
those who are regenerated or born of the Lord, and in the
abstract sense those things which appertain to them from
the Lord, which are the truths of faith and the goods of
charity. A. 10249

4, 5, 6. Passages concerning the coming of the Lord
lcolected from the prophecies of the Old Word. Coro. 60.
The Divine truth is from Him because there is oneness
with the Divine Human. P. P.

Verses 4 and 5 quoted. D. P., Page 59.

4-6, 20-22, 25-30, 36-38. He who knows that the Lord
is meant by David may know why David in his Psalms
wrote so often concerning the Lord when concerning
himself. L. 44.

4, 5, 15-30. By the throne of David is understood heaven
as to Divine truth. E. 253.

4, 5, 20. The Divine Human is the Holy spoken of in
Luke i. in Psalm lxxxix. also Daniel ix. Ath. 41.

4, 5, 20-22, 24, 26-30, 36-38. By David in this Psalm is
not understood David, but the Lord as to His royalty,
which is the Divine spiritual, and is called Divine truth.
Verse 4 signifies the unition of the Lord's Divine with His
Human. To make a covenant means unition, to swear
confirmation thereof, elect is predicated of good, servant
of truth. Verse 5 signifies Divine truth, heaven and the
church from Him, seed Divine truth and those who
receive it, throne heaven and the church. Verse 20
signifies a prophetic arcanum concerning the Lord. The
Divine truth whereby Divine good operates all things is
called a help upon one that is mighty. The exaltation of
one chosen out of the people means Divine majesty and
power thence derived. Verse 21 signifies the Lord as to
the Divine Human, and union with the essential Divine,
which union in the New Testament is called glorification,
and is understood by the anointing. The oil of holiness
signifies the Divine good of the Divine love, anointed to
be united to Divine truth, which appertained to the Lord's
human in the world. Verse 22 signifies omnipotence
thence derived, hand omnipotence of truth from good,
the arm omnipotence of good by truth. Verse 24 signifies
combat attended with victory against evils and falsities,
thus the hells. Verse 26 signifies the extension of His
26 dominion and kingdom over all things of heaven and the
church. Verse 27 signifies the Divine Human which is
the Son of God conceived of the essential Divine, and
afterwards born. Divine truth and Divine power was
thence derived to the Lord's human, He is also called
God, and the rock of salvation. Verse 28 signifies that
He is above all the good and truth of heaven and the
church, because they are from Him. Verses 29 and 30,
the days of heaven denote the states of the whole heaven,
which are from His Divine. Verse 36 signifies eternal
confirmation, because from the Divine, concerning the
Lord, and the union of His Human with the Essential
Divine. Verse 37 and 38 signify similar things as above
where treating of His seed and throne. Of the sun is
predicated eternity as to Divine good, of the moon as to
Divine truth. A faithful witness in the clouds means
acknowledgment and confession from the Word concerning
the Divine in the Human of the Lord. E. 684.

4, 5, 12. The Lord is meant by David. R. 3.

See Psalm xxvii. 9. E. 409.

4, 5, 29. By David is here understood the Lord as to His
royalty or kingly office. E. 701.

4, 5, 30. See Psalm xxi. 11. R. 565.

4, 5, 30, 37. That faith in the Lord is meant by the seed
of the woman appears from the signification of woman,
which is the church. By David is meant the Lord, by
the throne His kingdom, by the sun love, by seed faith.
A- 255.

By David in the Word is understood the Lord as to His
royalty, which is the Divine truth in the Lord's spiritual
kingdom. E. 768.

4, 36. That Jehovah, that is the Lord, sware by Himself
signifies that the Divine truth testifies, for He is the Divine
truth, and this testifies from itself and by itself.
R. 474.

4, 36, 50. Since to swear is only what is external
corresponding to the confirmation of the mind of the internal
man, and hence is significative thereof, therefore in the
Word of the Old Testament it is said to be lawful to swear
by God, and even God himself is said to swear. This
signifies confirmation, asseveration, and simply the verity
of a thing. E. 608.

7. A God very terrible in the council of the holy ones,
And to be feared above all them that are round about
him?
8. O Jehovah God of hosts,
Who is a mighty one, like unto thee, O Jehovah ?
And thy faithfulness is round about thee.
9. Thou rulest the pride of the sea:
When the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
10. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain;
Thou hast scattered thine enemies with the arm of thy
strength.

7. See Psalm xviii. 3, 29, 30, 32. Add: For this reason,
every angel or spirit that spake with men, and whom they
believed to have any power, they called God. A. 300.
See Psalm lxxxii. 1, 6. A. 4295.

7-9. See Psalm xxix.. 1. A. 4402.

See Psalm xxix. 1. A. 7268.

7-10, 14. Thus the Lord has all power. P. P.

11. The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine:
The world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded
them.
12. The north and the south, thou hast created them:
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in thy name.

10. By sea is here signified the natural man, because in the
natural man are the common or general things of truth.
By the rising of its waves is signified its exalting itself
against the Divine, denying the things which are of the
church. E. 275.

11-15. All of heaven and the church is from Him. P. P.

12. See Psalm xxiv. 1, 2. A. 6297.

See Psalm ix. 9. R. 551.

By founding the globe and the earth is signified to establish
the church. R. 589.

By the heavens and the earth is signified the church in
the heavens and in the earths each as to truths. By the
world and the fulness thereof is signified the church in the
heavens and in the earths each as to goods, fulness standing
for goods and truths in their complex. E. 741.

By the heaven and the earth is signified the church,
by the world the church as to good, and by the fulness
thereof, all the goods and truths of the church. E. 1057.
12, 13. See Psalm xlviii. 2, 3. A. 3708.

By the heavens, the earth, and the world is signified
the church, by fulness all the truth and good which constitute
the church, by the north those therein who are in
an obscure state as to truth, by the right hand those who
12 are in the light of truth from good, thus the same as by
the south. A. 10061.

By the heavens and the earths are understood the superior
and inferior heavens, also the internal and external
church, by the world and the fulness thereof the heavens
and the church in general as to good and as to truth, by
the world as to good, and by the fulness thereof as to
truth. Since these principles, or those who are in them,
are in the north and in the south, and the south is at the
right hand of the Lord, therefore it is said the north and
the right hand. Since such is the quality of Divine truth
united to Divine good in those quarters from the foundation
of the world, it is therefore said thou hast founded,
and thou hast created them. E. 600.

13. Thou hast a mighty arm;
Strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

13-15. That by the right hand is here understood the
south is evident. By the south is signified the Divine
truth in light, thus in the supreme sense, in which the
Lord is spoken of, it signifies omnipotence and omniscience,
wThich Divine good has by Divine truth. E. 298.
14. See Luke xxii. 69, at the right hand of power signifies
the omnipotence of the Lord, the right hand means
power. A. 7518.

Divine power or omnipotence is also signified by the
right hand. . A. 8281.

That the right hand signifies Divine power is manifest.
A. 10019.

14. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy
throne:
Lovingkindness and truth go before thy face.
15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound:
They walk, O Jehovah, in the light of thy countenance.
16. In thy name do they rejoice all the day;
And in thy righteousness are they exalted.
17. For thou art the glory of their strength;
And in thy favor our horn shall be exalted.
18. For our shield belongeth unto Jehovah;
And our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19. Then thou spakest in vision to thy saints,
And saidst, I have laid help upon one that 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:

15. Justice stands for the good which is of mercy, and
judgment for the truth winch is of faith, hence it is also
said mercy and truth. A. 9857.

See Psalm xxxvi. 7. S. 85.

See Psalm xxxvii. 6. W. 38.

The Lord is the Divine good and the Divine truth.
The former is signified by justice, and the latter by judgment.
R. 668.

See Psalm xxxvi. 7. T. 51.

I spoke with clergymen and laymen, who had gathered
psalm lxxxix. 333

together concerning the Divine omnipotence. They said
that omnipotence is unlimited, and that limited omnipotence
is a contradiction. To which it was answered
that there is no contradiction in acting omnipotently
according to laws of justice with judgment, and that there
is no contradiction in acting omnipotently according to
the laws of love from wisdom. Ind. viii.

16. See Psalm iv. 7. A. 10579.

See Numbers x. 1-10. From the uses of trumpets
among the children of Israel, it may also be seen what is
signified by trumpets and by sounding them in Joel ii.
1, 2: Zechariah ix. 14. (Swedenborg translates: Blessed
is the people that know the trumpet sound, instead of
joyful sound, or joyful shout.) R. 397.

See Psalm iv. 7. R. 939.

See Psalm iv. 7. E. 412.

By the sound of the trumpet is signified Divine truth
gladdening the heart. E. 502.

16-19. Happy is he who trusts in the Lord. P. P.
18. See Psalm xviii. 2, 3. R. 270.

By the horn being exalted is here signified to be rilled
with Divine truth, and thereby to give power against
falsities. E. 316.

18, 19. The Holy One of Israel is the Lord. A. 3305.
18, 19, 25, 26. Our horn and His horn manifestly stand
for the power of truth. The Lord's spiritual kingdom
is here treated of. Our king belongs to the Holy One of
Israel, means that Divine truth belongs to the Lord. To
put His hand on the sea, and His right hand on the rivers,
means that strength is in the external and internal knowledges
of truth. A. 2832.

19. Since the Lord alone is holy, therefore He is called the
Holy One of Israel. A. 9229.

See Psalm lxxi. 22. A. 9680.

Jehovah and the Holy One of Israel. D. P., Page 63.

21. With whom my hand shall be established;
Aline arm also shall strengthen him.
22. The enemy shall not exact from him,
Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
23. And I will beat down his adversaries before him,
And smite them that hate him.
24. But my faithfulness and my lovingkindness shall be
with him;
And in my name shall his horn be exalted.
25. I will set his hand also on the sea,
And his right hand on the rivers.
26. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father,
My God, and the rock of my salvation.
27. I also will make him my firstborn,
The highest of the kings of the earth.
28. My lovingkindness will I keep for him for evermore;
And my covenant shall stand fast with him.
29. His seed also will I make to endure for ever,
And his throne as the days of heaven.
30. If his children forsake my law,
And walk not in mine ordinances;

20-26. The Father to the Lord, or His Divine to His
Human: that by oneness with Him He has omnipotence
over the hells. P. P.

20-38. Verses 20, 22, 26, 27, 28, 30, 37, 38 partly quoted.
D. P., Page 59.

20, 26-30. See Psalm ii. 2, 6. A. 9954.
Here by David is understood the Lord, by the holy oil
with which Jehovah anointed Him is signified the Divine
good of the Divine love. E. 375.

21. By David is meant the Lord. A. 9954.

That they afterwards anointed kings, and that they were
called the anointed of Jehovah see i. Samuel x. 1; xv. 1.
ii. Samuel i. 16, etc. E. 375.

21, 22, 25. See Psalm xviii. 2, 3. R. 270.

By David is understood the Lord as to Divine truth.
By his horn being exalted is understood His Divine power,
which He has from Divine good by Divine truth. Mercy
in the Word when predicated of Jehovah, or the Lord,
signifies the Divine good of the Divine love. By servant
is not understood a servant in the ordinary sense, but
whatsoever serves. It is therefore predicated of truth,
because this serves good for use, and in this case for
power. E. 316.

21, 26, 28-30. By David, by anointed, and by king, as in
other passages of the Psalms, the Lord is understood,
which may be clearly seen by those who understand the
Word spiritually, but obscurely by those who understand
it only naturally. E. 205.

21,  39, 52. The reason why they anointed kings was that
they might represent the Lord as to judgment from Divine
truth, wherefore in the Word by kings are represented
A. 9954
R. 779
A. 3122
A. 6180
R. 409

This is said of David by whom the Lord is understood
Divine truths.

The power of the Lord even to the ultimates of heaven
and the church, thus over the whole heaven, and over
everything of the church is signified by setting his hand in
the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. That the ultimates
of heaven are seas and rivrers has been frequently
shown. These were represented by the two seas and by
the two rivers which formed the boundaries of the land of
Canaan. E. 518.

26, 27. Speaking of power from truths. A. 4402.

26-28. In the whole of this Psalm the Lord who was to
come is treated of, wherefore it is He who should call
Jehovah His Father, and who should be the First-born,
thus who is the Son of God. L. 19.

26, 28-30. Passages which speak more openly of the coming
of the Lord. L. 6.

27. See Psalm lxxviii. 16, 20, 35. Inv. 35.

27, 28. All love is of the Lord, and no whit of love is of
man, wherefore the Lord alone is the First-born. In
respect to the Lord being the First-born of all as to His
Human essence, it is thus written. A. 352.

By rock is understood Divine truth from the Lord, or
the Lord himself. E. 411.

27-30. That the Lord as to the Divine Human is the Firstborn
is evident from David. A. 3325.

27-30, 36-38. There will be eternal oneness with Him.
P. P.

28. The first-born is what truth from good, and thus what
the understanding from the will first produces, because
truth is of the understanding, and good is of the will.
This first thing, because it is as the seed from which the
rest proceed, is the primary. In regard to the Lord, He
is the First-born from the dead, because He is also, as to
His Human, the truth itself united to the Divine good,
from which all men, who are in themselves dead, live.
R. 17.

Since the Lord as to His Divine Humanity is called the
First-born, by reason that all good proceeds from Him,
therefore all the first-born in the Israelitish church were
holy to Jehovah. E. 28.

28, 29, 35. Speaking of the Lord. My covenant shall be
stable to Him means the union of the Divine itself and
the Divine Human, thus it also stands for the Word, for
the Lord as to the Divine Human was the Word which
was made flesh. A. 9396.

30. That all things of the Word are meant by the law in the
widest sense. See John xii. 34. This is here written.
L. 10.

The foregoing statement repeated in T. 262.

The foregoing statement also repeated in T. 288.

31. If they break my statutes,
And keep not my commandments;
32. Then will I visit their transgression with the rod,
And their iniquity with stripes.
33. But my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from
him,
Nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
34. My covenant will I not break,
Nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
35. Once have I sworn by my holiness:
I will not lie unto David:
36. His seed shall endure for ever,
And his throne as the sun before me.
37. It shall be established for ever as the moon,
And as the faithful witness in the sky. [Selah
38. But thou hast cast off and rejected,
Thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.
39. Thou hast abhorred the covenant of thy servant:
Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the
ground.
40. Thou hast broken down all his hedges;
Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin.

31-33- That the laws enacted by the Lord and commanded
the sons of Israel were distinguished into commandments
which relate to life, into judgments which relate to the
civil state, and into statutes which relate to worship is
plain. A. 8972.

By commandments are understood the laws of life, especially
those which are in the decalogue, which are therefore
called the ten precepts. By statutes are understood
the laws of worship, which principally relate to sacrifices,
and the ministry of holy things. By judgments are understood
civil laws, wThich being representative of spiritual
laws, were therefore significative of Divine truths, such
as are in the spiritual kingdom of the Lord in the heavens.
E. 946.

31-38. Even if those of the church should fail there will
be eternal oneness with Him. P. P.

35, 36. David stands for the Lord. The Divine good here
has regard to the covenant. The thing that has gone out
of my lips, has regard to the Divine truth, this on account
of the marriage of good and truth which is in everything
of the Word. A. 2842.

35-38. These things are spoken concerning the Lord.
This is evident from the whole of the Psalm, for His
coming is here treated of, and afterwards the rejection of Him
by the Jewish nation. E. 205.

37, 38. This is said of David, but by David the Lord is
here meant. R. 53.

Concerning the Lord, and concerning heaven and His
church. By His seed which shall continue for ever are
signified the Divine truth, and also all those who shall
receive it. By His throne which shall endure as the sun
are signified heaven and His church which are in celestial
good, which is the good of love. By His throne which
shall be established as the moon for ever, is signified
heaven and the church which are in spiritual good, which
is the Divine truth. By a faithful witness in the heavens
is signified the Word in the literal sense, which is called
a witness because it testifies, and because the heavens, or
the clouds signify the literal sense of the Word. E. 401.
By the seed which shall endure for ever is signified the
Divine truth which is from Him, by the throne heaven and
the church, as to the good of love and as to the truth of
faith. A faithful witness in the clouds signifies that He
is the Divine truth, for witness when predicated of the
Lord signifies that which proceeds from Him, and this
being of Him witnesses concerning Him. E. 594.
38. See Psalm lxviii. 5. E. 36.

39, 40. Anointed stands for the Lord, anger for a state of
temptation in which He was when in combats with the
hells, lamentation is described by anger and damnation,
as the last lamentation of the Lord that He was forsaken.
A. 9930.

The wisdom which is from the knowledges of truth and
good from the Word, and from a life according to them is
signified by a crown. E. 126.

By thine anointed is understood the Lord, and by being
wroth a state of temptation in which He was when in combats
wTith the hells. The lamentation of that state is described
by anger and damnation, as was the case in the
39 last temptation on the cross, when the Lord lamented that
He was forsaken, for the cross was the last of His temptations
or combats with the hells. After that last temptation
He put on the Divine good of the Divine love, and
thus united the Divine Humanity to the very or essential
Divinity which was in Himself. E. 272.

39-43. Of the Jewish nation. It has destroyed conjunction
with Him, because it has destroyed the church. P. P.
40. By a crown is signified wisdom. R. 189.

41. All that pass by the way rob him:
He is become a reproach to his neighbors.
42. Thou hast exalted the right hand of his adversaries;
Thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.
43. Yea, thou turnest back the edge of his sword,
And hast not made him to stand in the battle.
44. Thou hast made his brightness to cease,
And cast his throne down to the ground.
45. The days of his youth hast thou shortened:
Thou hast covered him with shame. [Selah
46. How long, O Jehovah ? wilt thou hide thyself forever ?
How long shall thy wrath burn like fire ?
47. Oh remember how short my time is:
For what vanity hast thou created all the children of
men
48. What man is he that shall live and not see death,
That shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol ?
[Selah
49. Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses,
Which thou swarest unto David in thy faithfulness ?
50. Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants;
How I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the
mighty peoples,
51. Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, Jehovah,
Wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine
anointed.
52. Blessed be Jehovah for evermore.
Amen, and Amen.

43. The right hand, in the opposite sense, signifies falsity
from evil, and reasoning and combat thereof against truth
derived from good. E. 298.

44-46. It has utterly repudiated Him. P. P.

47-49. Prayer to the Father that unless He assist, no one
will have eternal life. P. P.

48, 50. To create or make a man signifies to reform him by
Divine truth. E. 294.

50. Unless oneness is effected. P. P.

50-52. The hells will otherwise prevail. P. P.

51. In my bosom, meaning with himself, as his own.
A. 6960.

53. See Psalm xxvih. 6. A. 1096.

See Psalm xxviii. 6. R. 289.

See Psalm xli. 14. . E. 228.

He assists. P. P.

Author: EMANUEL SWEDENBORG (1688-1772)