7:15 He fashioned two bronze pillars; each pillar was 27 feet 6 high and 18 feet 7 in circumference. 7:16 He made two bronze tops for the pillars; each was seven-and-a-half feet high. 8
7:1 Solomon took thirteen years to build his palace. 9
89:33 But I will not remove 11 my loyal love from him,
nor be unfaithful to my promise. 12
89:34 I will not break 13 my covenant
or go back on what I promised. 14
89:35 Once and for all I have vowed by my own holiness,
I will never deceive 15 David.
89:36 His dynasty will last forever. 16
His throne will endure before me, like the sun, 17
89:37 it will remain stable, like the moon, 18
his throne will endure like the skies.” 19 (Selah)
1 sn Because of this. Reference is made to the idolatry mentioned earlier.
2 tn Heb “but not all the days.”
3 tn Heb “you must not go into them, and they must not go into you.”
4 tn Heb “Surely they will bend your heart after their gods.” The words “if you do” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
5 tn Heb “Solomon clung to them for love.” The pronominal suffix, translated “them,” is masculine here, even though it appears the foreign women are in view. Perhaps this is due to attraction to the masculine forms used of the nations earlier in the verse.
6 tn Heb “eighteen cubits.”
7 tn Heb “twelve cubits.”
8 tn Heb “two capitals he made to place on the tops of the pillars, cast in bronze; five cubits was the height of the first capital, and five cubits was the height of the second capital.”
9 tn Heb “His house Solomon built in thirteen years and he completed all his house.”
10 tn Heb “according to your word.”
11 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.
12 tn Heb “and I will not deal falsely with my faithfulness.”
13 tn Or “desecrate.”
14 tn Heb “and what proceeds out of my lips I will not alter.”
15 tn Or “lie to.”
16 tn Heb “his offspring forever will be.”
17 tn Heb “and his throne like the sun before me.”
18 tn Heb “like the moon it will be established forever.”
19 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.