Jeremiah 13:18

13:18 The Lord told me, ¹ 

“Tell the king and the queen mother,

‘Surrender your thrones, ² 

for your glorious crowns

will be removed ³  from your heads. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 17:20

17:20 As you stand in those places ⁵  announce, ‘Listen, all you people who pass through these gates. Listen, all you kings of Judah, all you people of Judah and all you citizens of Jerusalem. Listen to what the Lord says. ⁶ 

Psalms 2:10

2:10 So now, you kings, do what is wise; ⁷ 

you rulers of the earth, submit to correction! ⁸ 

Psalms 102:15

102:15 The nations will respect the reputation of the Lord, ⁹ 

and all the kings of the earth will respect ¹⁰  his splendor,

Psalms 110:5

110:5 O sovereign Lord, ¹¹  at your right hand

he strikes down ¹²  kings in the day he unleashes his anger. ¹³ 

Matthew 10:18

10:18 And you will be brought before governors and kings ¹⁴  because of me, as a witness to them and the Gentiles.

Revelation 2:29

2:29 The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

¹ tn The words “The Lord told me” are not in the text but are implicit in the shift from second plural pronouns in vv. 15-17 to second singular in the Hebrew text of this verse. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

² tn Or “You will come down from your thrones”; Heb “Make low! Sit!” This is a case of a construction where two forms in the same case, mood, or tense are joined in such a way that one (usually the first) is intended as an adverbial or adjectival modifier of the other (a figure called hendiadys). This is also probably a case where the imperative is used to express a distinct assurance or promise. See GKC 324 §110.b and compare the usage in Isa 37:30 and Ps 110:2.

³ tn Heb “have come down.” The verb here and those in the following verses are further examples of the “as good as done” form of the Hebrew verb (the prophetic perfect).

⁴ tc The translation follows the common emendation of a word normally meaning “place at the head” (מַרְאֲשׁוֹת [mar’ashot] plus pronoun = מַרְאֲוֹשׁתֵיכֶם [mar’aoshtekhem]) to “from your heads” (מֵרָאשֵׁיכֶם, mera’shekhem) following the ancient versions. The meaning “tiara” is nowhere else attested for this word.

⁵ tn The words “As you stand there” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “Listen to the word of the Lord, kings of Judah…Jerusalem who enter through these gates.” This sentence has been restructured to avoid a long complex English sentence and to put “Listen to what the Lord says” closer to the content of what he says.

⁷ sn The speaker here is either the psalmist or the Davidic king, who now addresses the rebellious kings.

⁸ tn The Niphal has here a tolerative nuance; the kings are urged to submit themselves to the advice being offered.

⁹ tn Heb “will fear the name of the Lord.” To “fear” God’s name means to have a healthy respect for his revealed reputation which in turn motivates one to obey God’s commands (see Ps 86:11).

¹⁰ tn The verb “will fear” is understood by ellipsis in the second line (see the preceding line).

¹¹ tn As pointed in the Hebrew text, this title refers to God (many medieval Hebrew mss read יְהוָה, yehveh, “Lord” here). The present translation assumes that the psalmist here addresses the Lord as he celebrates what the king is able to accomplish while positioned at God’s “right hand.” According to this view the king is the subject of the third person verb forms in vv. 5b-7. (2) Another option is to understand the king as the addressee (as in vv. 2-3). In this case “the Lord” is the subject of the third person verbs throughout vv. 5-7 and is depicted as a warrior in a very anthropomorphic manner. In this case the Lord is pictured as being at the psalmist’s right hand (just the opposite of v. 1). See Pss 16:8; 121:5. (3) A third option is to revocalize אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”) as אֲדֹנִי (’adoniy, “my lord”; see v. 1). In this case one may translate, “My lord, at his [God’s] right hand, strikes down.” In this case the king is the subject of the third person verbs in vv. 5b-7.

¹² tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 5-6 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing. Another option is to take them as rhetorical. In this case the psalmist describes anticipated events as if they had already taken place.

¹³ tn Heb “in the day of his anger.”

¹⁴ sn These statements look at persecution both from a Jewish context as the mention of courts and synagogues suggests, and from a Gentile one as the reference to governors and kings suggests. Some fulfillment of Jewish persecution can be seen in Acts.