7:8 “So now, say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of hosts says: I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd 1 to make you leader of my people Israel. 7:9 I was with you wherever you went, and I defeated 2 all your enemies before you. Now I will make you as famous as the great men of the earth. 3
12:7 Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I chose 4 you to be king over Israel and I rescued you from the hand of Saul. 12:8 I gave you your master’s house, and put your master’s wives into your arms. 5 I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all that somehow seems insignificant, I would have given you so much more as well!
22:51 He gives his chosen king magnificent victories; 6
he is faithful to his chosen ruler, 7
to David and to his descendants forever!”
23:1 These are the final words of David:
“The oracle of David son of Jesse,
the oracle of the man raised up as
the ruler chosen by the God of Jacob, 8
Israel’s beloved 9 singer of songs:
86:13 For you will extend your great loyal love to me, 10
and will deliver my life 11 from the depths of Sheol. 12
89:20 I have discovered David, my servant.
With my holy oil I have anointed him as king. 13
89:21 My hand will support him, 14
and my arm will strengthen him.
89:22 No enemy will be able to exact tribute 15 from him; 16
a violent oppressor will not be able to humiliate him. 17
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, 18
and by my name he will win victories. 19
89:25 I will place his hand over the sea,
his right hand over the rivers. 20
89:26 He will call out to me,
‘You are my father, 21 my God, and the protector who delivers me.’ 22
89:27 I will appoint him to be my firstborn son, 23
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. 24
89:49 Where are your earlier faithful deeds, 25 O Lord, 26
the ones performed in accordance with your reliable oath to David? 27
55:3 Pay attention and come to me!
Listen, so you can live! 28
Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to 29 you,
just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. 30
1 tn Heb “and from after the sheep.”
2 tn Heb “cut off.”
3 tn Heb “and I will make for you a great name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.”
4 tn Heb “anointed.”
5 tn Heb “and the wives of your lord into your chest [or “lap”].” The words “I put” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.
6 tc The translation follows the Kethib and the ancient versions in reading מַגְדִּיל (magdil, “he magnifies”) rather than the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
7 tn Heb “[the one who] does loyalty to his anointed one.”
8 tn Heb “the anointed one of the God of Jacob.”
9 tn Or “pleasant.”
10 tn Heb “for your loyal love [is] great over me.”
11 tn Or “for he will have delivered my life.” The verb form indicates a future perfect here.
12 tn Or “lower Sheol.”
13 tn The words “as king” are supplied in the translation for clarification, indicating that a royal anointing is in view.
14 tn Heb “with whom my hand will be firm.”
15 tn Heb “an enemy will not exact tribute.” The imperfect is understood in a modal sense, indicating capability or potential.
16 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).
17 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).
18 tn Heb “and my faithfulness and my loyal love [will be] with him.”
19 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).
20 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).
21 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.
22 tn Heb “the rocky summit of my deliverance.”
23 sn The firstborn son typically had special status and received special privileges.
24 tn Heb “forever I will keep for him my loyal love and will make my covenant secure for him.”
25 sn The Lord’s faithful deeds are also mentioned in Pss 17:7 and 25:6.
26 tc Many medieval Hebrew
27 tn Heb “[which] you swore on oath to David by your faithfulness.”
28 tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.
29 tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”
30 tn Heb “the reliable expressions of loyalty of David.” The syntactical relationship of חַסְדֵי (khasde, “expressions of loyalty”) to the preceding line is unclear. If the term is appositional to בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”), then the Lord here transfers the promises of the Davidic covenant to the entire nation. Another option is to take חַסְדֵי (khasde) as an adverbial accusative and to translate “according to the reliable covenantal promises.” In this case the new covenantal arrangement proposed here is viewed as an extension or perhaps fulfillment of the Davidic promises. A third option, the one reflected in the above translation, is to take the last line as comparative. In this case the new covenant being proposed is analogous to the Davidic covenant. Verses 4-5, which compare David’s international prominence to what Israel will experience, favors this view. In all three of these interpretations, “David” is an objective genitive; he is the recipient of covenantal promises. A fourth option would be to take David as a subjective genitive and understand the line as giving the basis for the preceding promise: “Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, because of David’s faithful acts of covenantal loyalty.”