138:2 I will bow down toward your holy temple,
and give thanks to your name,
because of your loyal love and faithfulness,
for you have exalted your promise above the entire sky. 8
1:54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering 10 his mercy, 11
1:55 as he promised 12 to our ancestors, 13 to Abraham and to his descendants 14 forever.”
1:72 He has done this 15 to show mercy 16 to our ancestors, 17
and to remember his holy covenant 18 –
1 tn Heb “the house of Israel.” Cf. NCV “the Israelites”; TEV “the people of Israel”; CEV, NLT “Israel.”
2 tn Heb “not a word from all the good word which the
3 tn Heb “and it will be as every good word which the
4 tn Heb “so the
5 tn Heb “when you violate the covenant of the
6 tn Heb “and you walk and serve other gods and bow down to them.”
7 tn Or “perish.”
8 tc The MT reads, “for you have made great over all your name your word.” If retained, this must mean that God's mighty intervention, in fulfillment of his word of promise, surpassed anything he had done prior to this. However, the statement is odd and several emendations have been proposed. Some read, “for you have exalted over everything your name and your word,” while others suggest, “for you have exalted over all the heavens your name and your word.” The translation assumes an emendation of “your name” to “your heavens” (a construction that appears in Pss 8:3 and 144:5). The point is that God has been faithful to his promise and the reliability of that promise is apparent to all. For a fuller discussion of these options, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 244.
9 sn The words that Jesus predicts here will never pass away. They are more stable and lasting than creation itself. For this kind of image, see Isa 40:8; 55:10-11.
10 tn Or “because he remembered mercy,” understanding the infinitive as causal.
11 tn Or “his [God’s] loyal love.”
12 tn Grk “as he spoke.” Since this is a reference to the covenant to Abraham, ἐλάλησεν (elalhsen) can be translated in context “as he promised.” God keeps his word.
13 tn Grk “fathers.”
14 tn Grk “his seed” (an idiom for offspring or descendants).
15 tn The words “He has done this” (referring to the raising up of the horn of salvation from David’s house) are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to allow a new sentence to be started in the translation. The Greek sentence is lengthy and complex at this point, while contemporary English uses much shorter sentences.
16 sn Mercy refers to God’s loyal love (steadfast love) by which he completes his promises. See Luke 1:50.
17 tn Or “our forefathers”; Grk “our fathers.” This begins with the promise to Abraham (vv. 55, 73), and thus refers to many generations of ancestors.
18 sn The promises of God can be summarized as being found in the one promise (the oath that he swore) to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3).