2 Chronicles 12:13

12:13 King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; ¹  he ²  was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. ³  Rehoboam’s ⁴  mother was an Ammonite named Naamah.

Psalms 48:1

Psalm 48 ⁵ 

A song, a psalm by the Korahites.

48:1 The Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise

in the city of our God, ⁶  his holy hill.

Psalms 78:68-70

78:68 He chose the tribe of Judah,

and Mount Zion, which he loves.

78:69 He made his sanctuary as enduring as the heavens above; ⁷ 

as secure as the earth, which he established permanently. ⁸ 

78:70 He chose David, his servant,

and took him from the sheepfolds.

Psalms 132:13

132:13 Certainly ⁹  the Lord has chosen Zion;

he decided to make it his home. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 14:32

14:32 How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? ¹¹ 

Indeed, the Lord has made Zion secure;

the oppressed among his people will find safety in her.

¹ tn Heb “and the king, Rehoboam, strengthened himself in Jerusalem and ruled.”

² tn Heb “Rehoboam.” The recurrence of the proper name here is redundant in terms of contemporary English style, so the pronoun has been used in the translation instead.

³ tn Heb “the city where the Lord chose to place his name from all the tribes of Israel.”

⁴ tn Heb “his”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ sn Psalm 48. This so-called “Song of Zion” celebrates the greatness and glory of the Lord’s dwelling place, Jerusalem. His presence in the city elevates it above all others and assures its security.

⁶ sn The city of our God is Jerusalem, which is also referred to here as “his holy hill,” that is, Zion (see v. 2, as well as Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 43:3; 87:1; Dan 9:16).

⁹ tc Heb “and he built like the exalting [ones] his sanctuary.” The phrase כְּמוֹ־רָמִים (kÿmo-ramim, “like the exalting [ones]”) is a poetic form of the comparative preposition followed by a participial form of the verb רוּם (rum, “be exalted”). The text should be emended to כִּמְרֹמִים (kimromim, “like the [heavenly] heights”). See Ps 148:1, where “heights” refers to the heavens above.

¹⁰ tn Heb “like the earth, [which] he established permanently.” The feminine singular suffix on the Hebrew verb יָסַד (yasad, “to establish”) refers to the grammatically feminine noun “earth.”

¹³ tn Or “for.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “he desired it for his dwelling place.”

¹⁷ sn The question forces the Philistines to consider the dilemma they will face – surrender and oppression, or battle and death.