2 Samuel 8:15

8:15 David reigned over all Israel; he guaranteed justice for all his people. ¹ 

2 Samuel 23:3

23:3 The God of Israel spoke,

the protector ²  of Israel spoke to me.

The one who rules fairly among men,

the one who rules in the fear of God,

Psalms 72:2

72:2 Then he will judge ³  your people fairly,

and your oppressed ones ⁴  equitably.

Proverbs 8:15-16

8:15 Kings reign by means of me,

and potentates ⁵  decree ⁶  righteousness;

8:16 by me princes rule,

as well as nobles and ⁷  all righteous judges. ⁸ 

Isaiah 9:7

9:7 His dominion will be vast ⁹ 

and he will bring immeasurable prosperity. ¹⁰ 

He will rule on David’s throne

and over David’s kingdom, ¹¹ 

establishing it ¹²  and strengthening it

by promoting justice and fairness, ¹³ 

from this time forward and forevermore.

The Lord’s intense devotion to his people ¹⁴  will accomplish this.

Isaiah 11:4-5

11:4 He will treat the poor fairly, ¹⁵ 

and make right decisions ¹⁶  for the downtrodden of the earth. ¹⁷ 

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, ¹⁸ 

and order the wicked to be executed. ¹⁹ 

11:5 Justice will be like a belt around his waist,

integrity will be like a belt around his hips. ²⁰ 

Isaiah 32:1-2

Justice and Wisdom Will Prevail

32:1 Look, a king will promote fairness; ²¹ 

officials will promote justice. ²² 

32:2 Each of them ²³  will be like a shelter from the wind

and a refuge from a rainstorm;

like streams of water in a dry region

and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.

Jeremiah 23:5-6

23:5 “I, the Lord, promise ²⁴  that a new time will certainly come ²⁵ 

when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, ²⁶  a descendant of David.

He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding ²⁷ 

and will do what is just and right in the land. ²⁸ 

23:6 Under his rule ²⁹  Judah will enjoy safety ³⁰ 

and Israel will live in security. ³¹ 

This is the name he will go by:

‘The Lord has provided us with justice.’ ³² 

Romans 13:3-4

13:3 (for rulers cause no fear for good conduct but for bad). Do you desire not to fear authority? Do good and you will receive its commendation, 13:4 for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be in fear, for it does not bear the sword in vain. It is God’s servant to administer retribution on the wrongdoer.

[8:15]  ¹ tn Heb “and David was doing what is just and fair for all his people.”

[23:3]  ² tn Heb “rock,” used as a metaphor of divine protection.

[72:2]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:2]  ⁴ sn These people are called God’s oppressed ones because he is their defender (see Pss 9:12, 18; 10:12; 12:5).

[8:15]  ⁵ tn The verb רָזַן (razan) means “to be weighty; to be judicious; to be commanding.” It only occurs in the Qal active participle in the plural as a substantive, meaning “potentates; rulers” (e.g., Ps 1:1-3). Cf. KJV, ASV “princes”; NAB “lawgivers.”

[8:15]  ⁶ sn This verb יְחֹקְקוּ (yÿkhoqqu) is related to the noun חֹק (khoq), which is a “statute; decree.” The verb is defined as “to cut in; to inscribe; to decree” (BDB 349 s.v. חָקַק). The point the verse is making is that when these potentates decree righteousness, it is by wisdom. History records all too often that these rulers acted as fools and opposed righteousness (cf. Ps 2:1-3). But people in power need wisdom to govern the earth (e.g., Isa 11:1-4 which predicts how Messiah will use wisdom to do this very thing). The point is underscored with the paronomasia in v. 15 with “kings” and “will reign” from the same root, and then in v. 16 with both “princes” and “rule” being cognate. The repetition of sounds and meanings strengthens the statements.

[8:16]  ⁷ tn The term “and” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and readability.

[8:16]  ⁸ tc Many of the MT mss read “sovereigns [princes], all the judges of the earth.” The LXX has “sovereigns…rule the earth.” But the MT manuscript in the text has “judges of righteousness.” C. H. Toy suggests that the Hebrew here has assimilated Psalm 148:11 in its construction (Proverbs [ICC], 167). The expression “judges of the earth” is what one would expect, but the more difficult and unexpected reading, the one scribes might change, would be “judges of righteousness.” If that reading stands, then it would probably be interpreted as using an attributive genitive.

[9:7]  ⁹ tc The Hebrew text has לְםַרְבֵּה (lÿmarbeh), which is a corrupt reading. לם is dittographic; note the preceding word, שָׁלוֹם (shalom). The corrected text reads literally, “great is the dominion.”

[9:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and to peace there will be no end” (KJV and ASV both similar). On the political and socio-economic sense of שָׁלוֹם (shalom) in this context, see the note at v. 6 on “Prince of Peace.”

[9:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “over the throne of David, and over his kingdom.” The referent of the pronoun “his” (i.e., David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:7]  ¹² tn The feminine singular pronominal suffix on this form and the following one (translated “it” both times) refers back to the grammatically feminine noun “kingdom.”

[9:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “with/by justice and fairness”; ASV “with justice and with righteousness.”

[9:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the zeal of the Lord.” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” refers to his intense devotion to and love for his people which prompts him to vindicate them and to fulfill his promises to David and the nation.

[11:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “with justice” (so NAB) or “with righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[11:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “make decisions with rectitude”; cf. ASV, NRSV “and decide with equity.”

[11:4]  ¹⁷ tn Or “land” (NAB, NCV, CEV). It is uncertain if the passage is picturing universal dominion or focusing on the king’s rule over his covenant people. The reference to God’s “holy mountain” in v. 9 and the description of renewed Israelite conquests in v. 14 suggest the latter, though v. 10 seems to refer to a universal kingdom (see 2:2-4).

[11:4]  ¹⁸ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he will strike the earth with the scepter of his mouth.” Some have suggested that in this context אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) as an object of judgment seems too broad in scope. The parallelism is tighter if one emends the word to ץ(י)עָרִ (’arits, “potentate, tyrant”). The phrase “scepter of his mouth” refers to the royal (note “scepter”) decrees that he proclaims with his mouth. Because these decrees will have authority and power (see v. 2) behind them, they can be described as “striking” the tyrants down. Nevertheless, the MT reading may not need emending. Isaiah refers to the entire “earth” as the object of God’s judgment in several places without specifying the wicked as the object of the judgment (Isa 24:17-21; 26:9, 21; 28:22; cf. 13:11).

[11:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.” The “breath of his lips” refers to his speech, specifically in this context his official decrees that the wicked oppressors be eliminated from his realm. See the preceding note.

[11:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Justice will be the belt [or “undergarment”] on his waist, integrity the belt [or “undergarment”] on his hips.” The point of the metaphor is uncertain. If a belt worn outside the robe is in view, then the point might be that justice/integrity will be readily visible or that these qualities will give support to his rule. If an undergarment is in view, then the idea might be that these characteristics support his rule or that they are basic to everything else.

[32:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “will reign according to fairness.”

[32:1]  ²² tn Heb “will rule according to justice.”

[32:2]  ²³ tn Heb “a man,” but אִישׁ (’ish) probably refers here to “each” of the officials mentioned in the previous verse.

[23:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Behold the days are coming.”

[23:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “a righteous sprig to David” or “a righteous shoot” (NAB).

[23:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “he will reign as king and act wisely.” This is another example of the use of two verbs joined by “and” where one becomes the adverbial modifier of the other (hendiadys). For the nuance of the verb “act wisely” rather than “prosper” see Amos 5:13; Ps 2:10 (cf. BDB 968 s.v. שָׂכַל Hiph.5).

[23:5]  ²⁸ sn This has been the constant emphasis in this section. See 22:3 for the demand, 22:15 for its fulfillment, and 22:13 for its abuse. The ideal king would follow in the footsteps of his illustrious ancestor David (2 Sam 8:15) who set this forth as an ideal for his dynasty (2 Sam 23:3) and prayed for it to be true of his son Solomon (Ps 72:1-2).

[23:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “In his days [= during the time he rules].”

[23:6]  ³⁰ tn Parallelism and context (cf. v. 4) suggest this nuance for the word often translated “be saved.” For this nuance elsewhere see Ps 119:117; Prov 28:18 for the verb (יָשַׁע [yasha’] in the Niphal); and Ps 12:6; Job 5:4, 11 for the related noun (יֶשַׁע, yesha’).

[23:6]  ³¹ sn It should be noted that this brief oracle of deliverance implies the reunification of Israel and Judah under the future Davidic ruler. Jeremiah has already spoken about this reunification earlier in 3:18 and will have more to say about it in 30:3; 31:27, 31. This same ideal was espoused in the prophecies of Hosea (1:10-11 [2:1-2 HT]), Isaiah (11:1-4, 10-12), and Ezekiel (37:15-28) all of which have messianic and eschatological significance.

[23:6]  ³² tn Heb “his name will be called ‘The Lord our righteousness’.”