2 Samuel 7:25-29

7:25 So now, O Lord God, make this promise you have made about your servant and his family a permanent reality. ¹  Do as you promised, ²  7:26 so you may gain lasting fame, ³  as people say, ⁴  ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel!’ The dynasty ⁵  of your servant David will be established before you, 7:27 for you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have told ⁶  your servant, ‘I will build you a dynastic house.’ ⁷  That is why your servant has had the courage ⁸  to pray this prayer to you. 7:28 Now, O sovereign Lord, you are the true God! ⁹  May your words prove to be true! ¹⁰  You have made this good promise to your servant! ¹¹  7:29 Now be willing to bless your servant’s dynasty ¹²  so that it may stand permanently before you, for you, O sovereign Lord, have spoken. By your blessing may your servant’s dynasty be blessed on into the future!” ¹³ 

Jeremiah 11:5

11:5 Then I will keep the promise I swore on oath to your ancestors to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.” ¹⁴  That is the very land that you still live in today.’” ¹⁵  And I responded, “Amen! Let it be so, ¹⁶  Lord!”

¹ tn Heb “and now, O Lord God, the word which you spoke concerning your servant and concerning his house, establish permanently.”

² tn Heb “as you have spoken.”

³ tn Heb “and your name might be great permanently.” Following the imperative in v. 23b, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result.

⁴ tn Heb “saying.” The words “as people” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.

⁵ tn Heb “the house.” See the note on “dynastic house” in the following verse.

⁶ tn Heb “have uncovered the ear of.”

⁷ tn Heb “a house.” This maintains the wordplay from v. 11 (see the note on the word “house” there) and is continued in v. 29.

⁸ tn Heb “has found his heart.”

⁹ tn Heb “the God.” The article indicates uniqueness here.

¹⁰ tn The translation understands the prefixed verb form as a jussive, indicating David’s wish/prayer. Another option is to take the form as an imperfect and translate “your words are true.”

¹¹ tn Heb “and you have spoken to your servant this good thing.”

¹² tn Heb “house” (again later in this verse). See the note on “dynastic house” in v. 27.

¹³ tn Or “permanently”; cf. NLT “it is an eternal blessing.”

¹⁴ tn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey” is very familiar to readers in the Jewish and Christian traditions as a proverbial description of the agricultural and pastoral abundance of the land of Israel. However, it may not mean too much to readers outside those traditions; an equivalent expression would be “a land of fertile fields and fine pastures.” E. W. Bullinger (Figures of Speech, 626) identifies this as a figure of speech called synecdoche where the species is put for the genus, “a region…abounding with pasture and fruits of all kinds.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as at this day.” However, the literal reading is too elliptical and would lead to confusion.

¹⁶ tn The words “Let it be so” are not in the text; they are an explanation of the significance of the term “Amen” for those who may not be part of the Christian or Jewish tradition.