Psalm 89 Introduction

Structure and Formatting

Psalm 89 is a psalm of supplication or lament. It appears to have been written shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem to protest that while Yahweh had promised that David’s descendants would always rule as kings, and Yahweh had the power to make sure that happened, he allowed enemies to destroy Jerusalem and depose the king. The psalmist uses three of the basic elements of a psalm of supplication. (See the discussion of the types of psalms in the introduction to the book of Psalms.) However, before he does that, the psalmist praises Yahweh for his power, and he cites his covenant with David as grounds for praying for restoration. These two first parts of the psalm correspond roughly to the other two basic elements of a psalm of supplication, a vow of praise and a statement of trust. 1. Praise of Yahweh’s power and greatness (1–18) 2. Yahweh’s covenant with David (19–37) 3. Description of troubles (38–45) 4. Cry for help (46–49) 5. Petition (50–51)Verse 52 is not part of the original psalm. It is a doxology (an expression of praise to God) that the editors of the book of Psalms added to mark the end of Book Three of the psalms. See how you translated the similar doxologies in [41:13](../041/013.md) and [72:18–20](../072/018.md).

Note 1 topic: translate-transliterate

מַ֝שְׂכִּ֗יל

(maskil)

The superscription to this psalm identifies it as a maskil. Since the meaning of this word is not certain, you may wish to represent it in its Hebrew form and spell it the way it sounds in your language. See the discussion of that term in the Introduction to Psalms.