28:9 “And you, Solomon my son, obey 1 the God of your father and serve him with a submissive attitude and a willing spirit, 2 for the Lord examines all minds and understands every motive of one’s thoughts. If you seek him, he will let you find him, 3 but if you abandon him, he will reject you permanently.
For 5 Solomon.
72:1 O God, grant the king the ability to make just decisions! 6
Grant the king’s son 7 the ability to make fair decisions! 8
119:80 May I be fully committed to your statutes, 9
so that I might not be ashamed.
1 tn Heb “know.”
2 tn Heb “with a complete heart and a willing being.”
3 tn Heb “he will allow himself to be found by you.”
4 sn Psalm 72. This royal psalm contains a prayer for the Davidic king (note the imperatival form in v. 1 and the jussive forms in vv. 16-17). It is not entirely clear if vv. 2-15 express a prayer or anticipate a future reign. The translation assumes a blend of petition and vision: (I) opening prayer (v. 1), followed by anticipated results if prayer is answered (vv. 2-7); (II) prayer (v. 8), followed by anticipated results if prayer is answered (vv. 9-14); (III) closing prayer (vv. 15-17). Whether a prayer, vision, or combination of the two, the psalm depicts the king’s universal rule of peace and prosperity. As such it is indirectly messianic, for the ideal it expresses will only be fully realized during the Messiah’s earthly reign. Verses 18-19 are a conclusion for Book 2 of the Psalter (Pss 42-72; cf. Ps 41:13, which contains a similar conclusion for Book 1), while v. 20 appears to be a remnant of an earlier collection of psalms or an earlier edition of the Psalter.
5 tn The preposition could be understood as indicating authorship (“Of Solomon”), but since the psalm is a prayer for a king, it may be that the superscription reflects a tradition that understood this as a prayer for Solomon.
6 tn Heb “O God, your judgments to [the] king give.”
7 sn Grant the king…Grant the king’s son. It is not entirely clear whether v. 1 envisions one individual or two. The phrase “the king’s son” in the second line may simply refer to “the king” of the first line, drawing attention to the fact that he has inherited his dynastic rule. Another option is that v. 1 envisions a co-regency between father and son (a common phenomenon in ancient Israel) or simply expresses a hope for a dynasty that champions justice.
8 tn Heb “and your justice to [the] son of [the] king.”
9 tn Heb “may my heart be complete in your statutes.”
10 tn The first phrase refers to the action of giving and the second to what is given.
11 tn Or “All generous giving and every perfect gift from above is coming down.”
12 tn Grk “variation or shadow of turning” (referring to the motions of heavenly bodies causing variations of light and darkness).