Text -- Psalms 89:20-52 (NET)

89:20 I have discovered David, my servant. With my holy oil I have anointed him as king. 89:21 My hand will support him, and my arm will strengthen him. 89:22 No enemy will be able to exact tribute from him; a violent oppressor oppressor will not be able to humiliate him. 89:23 I will crush his enemies before him; I will strike down those who hate him. 89:24 He will experience my faithfulness and loyal love, and by my name he will win victories. 89:25 I will place his hand over the sea, his right hand over the rivers. 89:26 He will call out to me, ‘You are my father, my God, and the protector who delivers me.’ 89:27 I will appoint him to be my firstborn son, the most exalted of the earth’s kings. 89:28 I will always extend my loyal love to him, and my covenant with him is secure. 89:29 I will give him an eternal dynasty, and make his throne as enduring as the skies above. 89:30 If his sons reject my law and disobey my regulations, 89:31 if they break my rules and do not keep my commandments, 89:32 I will punish their rebellion by beating them with a club, their sin by inflicting them with bruises. 89:33 But I will not remove my loyal love from him, nor be unfaithful to my promise. 89:34 I will not break my covenant or go back on what I promised. 89:35 Once and for all I have vowed by my own holiness, I will never deceive David. 89:36 His dynasty will last forever. His throne will endure before me, like the sun, 89:37 it will remain stable, like the moon, his throne will endure like the skies.” (Selah) 89:38 But you have spurned and rejected him; you are angry with your chosen king. 89:39 You have repudiated your covenant with your servant; you have thrown his crown to the ground. 89:40 You have broken down all his walls; you have made his strongholds a heap of ruins. 89:41 All who pass by have robbed him; he has become an object of disdain to his neighbors. 89:42 You have allowed his adversaries to be victorious, and all his enemies to rejoice. 89:43 You turn back his sword from the adversary, and have not sustained him in battle. 89:44 You have brought to an end his splendor, and have knocked his throne to the ground. 89:45 You have cut short his youth, and have covered him with shame. (Selah) 89:46 How long, O Lord, will this last? Will you remain hidden forever? Will your anger continue to burn like fire? 89:47 Take note of my brief lifespan! Why do you make all people so mortal? 89:48 No man can live on without experiencing death, or deliver his life from the power of Sheol. (Selah) 89:49 Where are your earlier faithful deeds, O Lord, the ones performed in accordance with your reliable oath to David? 89:50 Take note, O Lord, of the way your servants are taunted, and of how I must bear so many insults from people! 89:51 Your enemies, O Lord, hurl insults; they insult your chosen king as they dog his footsteps. 89:52 The Lord deserves praise forevermore! We agree! We agree!

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 89:20

¹ tn The words “as king” are supplied in the translation for clarification, indicating that a royal anointing is in view.

NET Notes: Psa 89:21

¹ tn Heb “with whom my hand will be firm.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:22

¹ tn Heb “an enemy will not exact tribute.” The imperfect is understood in a modal sense, indicating capability or potential.

² tn The translation understands the Hiphil of נָשַׁא (nasha’) in the sense of “act as a creditor.” This may allude to the practice of a conqueror forcing his subjects to pay tribute in exchange for “protection.” Another option is to take the verb from a homonymic verbal root meaning “to deceive,” “to trick.” Still another option is to emend the form to יִשָּׂא (yisa’), a Qal imperfect from נָאַשׂ (na’as, “rise up”) and to translate “an enemy will not rise up against him” (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 2:317).

³ tn Heb “and a son of violence will not oppress him.” The imperfect is understood in a modal sense, indicating capability or potential. The reference to a “son of violence” echoes the language of God’s promise to David in 2 Sam 7:10 (see also 1 Chr 17:9).

NET Notes: Psa 89:24

¹ tn Heb “and my faithfulness and my loyal love [will be] with him.”

² tn Heb “and by my name his horn will be lifted up.” The horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 75:10; 92:10; Lam 2:17).

NET Notes: Psa 89:25

¹ tn Some identify “the sea” as the Mediterranean and “the rivers” as the Euphrates and its tributaries. However, it is more likely that “the sea” and “the rivers” are symbols for hostile powers that oppose God and the king (see v. 9, as well as Ps 93:3-4).

NET Notes: Psa 89:26

¹ sn You are my father. The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

² tn Heb “the rocky summit of my deliverance.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:27

¹ sn The firstborn son typically had special status and received special privileges.

NET Notes: Psa 89:28

¹ tn Heb “forever I will keep for him my loyal love and will make my covenant secure for him.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:29

¹ tn Heb “and I will set in place forever his offspring.”

² tn Heb “and his throne like the days of the heavens.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:31

¹ tn Or “desecrate.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:32

¹ tn Heb “I will punish with a club their rebellion.”

sn Despite the harsh image of beating…with a club, the language reflects a father-son relationship (see v. 30; 2 Sam 7:14). According to Proverbs, a שֵׁבֶט (shevet, “club”) was sometimes utilized to administer corporal punishment to rebellious children (see Prov 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14; 29:15).

² tn Heb “with blows their sin.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:33

¹ tn Heb “break”; “make ineffectual.” Some prefer to emend אָפִיר (’afir; the Hiphil of פָּרַר, parar, “to break”) to אָסִיר (’asir; the Hiphil of סוּר, sur, “to turn aside”), a verb that appears in 2 Sam 7:15.

² tn Heb “and I will not deal falsely with my faithfulness.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:34

¹ tn Or “desecrate.”

² tn Heb “and what proceeds out of my lips I will not alter.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:35

¹ tn Or “lie to.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:36

¹ tn Heb “his offspring forever will be.”

² tn Heb “and his throne like the sun before me.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:37

¹ tn Heb “like the moon it will be established forever.”

² tn Heb “and a witness in the sky, secure.” Scholars have offered a variety of opinions as to the identity of the “witness” referred to here, none of which is very convincing. It is preferable to join וְעֵד (vÿ’ed) to עוֹלָם (’olam) in the preceding line and translate the commonly attested phrase עוֹלָם וְעֵד (“forever”). In this case one may translate the second line, “[it] will be secure like the skies.” Another option (the one reflected in the present translation) is to take עד as a rare noun meaning “throne” or “dais.” This noun is attested in Ugaritic; see, for example, CTA 16 vi 22-23, where ksi (= כִּסֵּא, kisse’, “throne”) and ’d (= עד, “dais”) appear as synonyms in the poetic parallelism (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 91). Emending בַּשַּׁחַק (bashakhaq, “in the heavens”) to כַּשַׁחַק (kashakhaq, “like the heavens”) – bet/kaf (כ/ב) confusion is widely attested – one can then read “[his] throne like the heavens [is] firm/stable.” Verse 29 refers to the enduring nature of the heavens, while Job 37:18 speaks of God spreading out the heavens (שְׁחָקִים, shÿkhaqim) and compares their strength to a bronze mirror. Ps 89:29 uses the term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim, “skies”) which frequently appears in parallelism to שְׁחָקִים.

NET Notes: Psa 89:38

¹ tn The Hebrew construction (conjunction + pronoun, followed by the verb) draws attention to the contrast between what follows and what precedes.

² tn Heb “your anointed one.” The Hebrew phrase מְשִׁיחֶךָ (mÿshikhekha, “your anointed one”) refers here to the Davidic king (see Pss 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 28:8; 84:9; 132:10, 17).

NET Notes: Psa 89:39

¹ tn The Hebrew verb appears only here and in Lam 2:7.

² tn Heb “the covenant of your servant.”

³ tn Heb “you dishonor [or “desecrate”] on the ground his crown.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:40

¹ tn The king here represents the land and cities over which he rules.

NET Notes: Psa 89:41

¹ tn Heb “all the passersby on the road.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:42

¹ tn Heb “you have lifted up the right hand of his adversaries.” The idiom “the right hand is lifted up” refers to victorious military deeds (see Pss 89:13; 118:16).

NET Notes: Psa 89:43

¹ tn The perfect verbal form predominates in vv. 38-45. The use of the imperfect in this one instance may be for rhetorical effect. The psalmist briefly lapses into dramatic mode, describing the king’s military defeat as if it were happening before his very eyes.

² tc Heb “you turn back, rocky summit, his sword.” The Hebrew term צוּר (tsur, “rocky summit”) makes no sense here, unless it is a divine title understood as vocative, “you turn back, O Rocky Summit, his sword.” Some emend the form to צֹר (tsor, “flint”) on the basis of Josh 5:2, which uses the phrase חַרְבוֹת צֻרִים (kharvot tsurim, “flint knives”). The noun צֹר (tsor, “flint”) can then be taken as “flint-like edge,” indicating the sharpness of the sword. Others emend the form to אָחוֹר (’akhor, “backward”) or to מִצַּר (mitsar, “from the adversary”). The present translation reflects the latter, assuming an original reading תָּשִׁיב מִצָּר חַרְבּוֹ (tashiv mitsar kharbo), which was corrupted to תָּשִׁיב צָר חַרְבּוֹ (tashiv tsar kharbo) by virtual haplography (confusion of bet/mem is well-attested) with צָר (tsar, “adversary”) then being misinterpreted as צוּר in the later tradition.

³ tn Heb “and you have not caused him to stand in the battle.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:44

¹ tc The Hebrew text appears to read, “you have brought to an end from his splendor,” but the form מִטְּהָרוֹ (mittÿharo) should be slightly emended (the daghesh should be removed from the tet [ת]) and read simply “his splendor” (the initial mem [מ] is not the preposition, but a nominal prefix).

² tn The Hebrew verb מָגַר (magar) occurs only here and perhaps in Ezek 21:17.

NET Notes: Psa 89:45

¹ tn Heb “the days of his youth” (see as well Job 33:25).

NET Notes: Psa 89:46

¹ tn Heb “How long, O Lord, will hide yourself forever?”

NET Notes: Psa 89:47

¹ tn Heb “remember me, what is [my] lifespan.” The Hebrew term חֶלֶד (kheled) is also used of one’s lifespan in Ps 39:5. Because the Hebrew text is so awkward here, some prefer to emend it to read מֶה חָדֵל אָנִי (meh khadel ’aniy, “[remember] how transient [that is, “short-lived”] I am”; see Ps 39:4).

² tn Heb “For what emptiness do you create all the sons of mankind?” In this context the term שָׁוְא (shavah) refers to mankind’s mortal nature and the brevity of life (see vv. 45, 48).

NET Notes: Psa 89:48

¹ tn Heb “Who [is] the man [who] can live and not see death, [who] can deliver his life from the hand of Sheol?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

NET Notes: Psa 89:49

¹ sn The Lord’s faithful deeds are also mentioned in Pss 17:7 and 25:6.

² tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read here יְהוָה (yehvah, “the Lord”).

³ tn Heb “[which] you swore on oath to David by your faithfulness.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:50

¹ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read here יְהוָה (yehvah, “the Lord”).

² tn Heb “remember, O Lord, the taunt against your servants.” Many medieval Hebrew mss read the singular here, “your servant” (that is, the psalmist).

³ tn Heb “my lifting up in my arms [or “against my chest”] all of the many, peoples.” The term רַבִּים (rabbim, “many”) makes no apparent sense here. For this reason some emend the text to רִבֵי (rivey, “attacks by”), a defectively written plural construct form of רִיב (riv, “dispute; quarrel”).

NET Notes: Psa 89:51

¹ tn Heb “[by] which your enemies, O Lord, taunt, [by] which they taunt [at] the heels of your anointed one.”

NET Notes: Psa 89:52

¹ sn The final verse of Ps 89, v. 52, is a conclusion to this third “book” (or major editorial division) of the Psalter. Similar statements appear at or near the end of each of the first, second and fourth “books” of the Psalter (see Pss 41:13; 72:18-19; 106:48, respectively).

² tn Heb “[be] blessed.” See Pss 18:46; 28:6; 31:21.

³ tn Heb “surely and surely” (אָמֵן וְאָמֵן [’amen vÿ’amen], i.e., “Amen and amen”). This is probably a congregational response to the immediately preceding statement about the propriety of praising God; thus it has been translated “We agree! We agree!”