Jeremiah 10:16

10:16 The Lord, who is the inheritance ¹  of Jacob’s descendants, ²  is not like them.

He is the one who created everything.

And the people of Israel are those he claims as his own. ³ 

He is known as the Lord who rules over all.” ⁴ 

Psalms 16:5

16:5 Lord, you give me stability and prosperity; ⁵ 

you make my future secure. ⁶ 

Psalms 73:26

73:26 My flesh and my heart may grow weak, ⁷ 

but God always ⁸  protects my heart and gives me stability. ⁹ 

Psalms 115:3

115:3 Our God is in heaven!

He does whatever he pleases! ¹⁰ 

Lamentations 3:24

3:24 “My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself, ¹¹ 

so I will put my hope in him.

¹ tn The words “The Lord who is” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation for clarity. For the significance of the words that follow them see the study note that follows.

² tn Heb “The Portion of Jacob.” “Descendants” is implied, and is supplied in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “And Israel is the tribe of his possession.”

⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies is his name.”

⁵ tn Heb “O Lord, the portion of my possession and my cup”; or “the Lord [is] the portion of my possession and my cup.” The psalmist compares the Lord to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel, and to a cup of wine, which may symbolize a reward (in Ps 11:6 it symbolizes the judgment one deserves) or divine blessing (see Ps 23:5). The metaphor highlights the fact that God is the psalmist’s source of security and prosperity.

⁶ tc Heb “you take hold of my lot.” The form תּוֹמִיךְ (tomikh) should be emended to a participle, תוֹמֵךְ (tomekh). The psalmist pictures the Lord as casting his lot (a method used to allot landed property) for him, thus assuring that he will receive a fertile piece of land (see v. 6). As in the previous line, land represents security and economic stability, thus “you make my future secure.”

⁷ tn The Hebrew verb כָלָה (khalah, “to fail; to grow weak”) does not refer here to physical death per se, but to the physical weakness that sometimes precedes death (see Job 33:21; Pss 71:9; 143:7; Prov 5:11).

⁸ tn Or “forever.”

⁹ tn Heb “is the rocky summit of my heart and my portion.” The psalmist compares the Lord to a rocky summit where one could go for protection and to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel.

¹⁰ sn He does whatever he pleases. Such sovereignty is characteristic of kings (see Eccl 8:3).

¹¹ tn Heb “My soul said…” The term נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”) is a synecdoche of part (= my soul) for the whole person (= I ).