119:144 Your rules remain just. 1
Give me insight so that I can live. 2
119:160 Your instructions are totally reliable;
all your just regulations endure. 3
89:34 I will not break 4 my covenant
or go back on what I promised. 5
89:35 Once and for all I have vowed by my own holiness,
I will never deceive 6 David.
89:36 His dynasty will last forever. 7
His throne will endure before me, like the sun, 8
89:37 it will remain stable, like the moon, 9
his throne will endure like the skies.” 10 (Selah)
111:7 His acts are characterized by 11 faithfulness and justice;
all his precepts are reliable. 12
111:8 They are forever firm,
and should be faithfully and properly carried out. 13
3:14 I also know that whatever God does will endure forever;
nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken away from it.
God has made it this way, so that men will fear him.
1 tn Heb “just are your rules forever.”
2 tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.
3 tn Heb “the head of your word is truth, and forever [is] all your just regulation.” The term “head” is used here of the “sum total” of God’s instructions.
4 tn Or “desecrate.”
5 tn Heb “and what proceeds out of my lips I will not alter.”
6 tn Or “lie to.”
7 tn Heb “his offspring forever will be.”
8 tn Heb “and his throne like the sun before me.”
9 tn Heb “like the moon it will be established forever.”
10 tn Heb “and a witness in the sky, secure.” Scholars have offered a variety of opinions as to the identity of the “witness” referred to here, none of which is very convincing. It is preferable to join וְעֵד (vÿ’ed) to עוֹלָם (’olam) in the preceding line and translate the commonly attested phrase עוֹלָם וְעֵד (“forever”). In this case one may translate the second line, “[it] will be secure like the skies.” Another option (the one reflected in the present translation) is to take עד as a rare noun meaning “throne” or “dais.” This noun is attested in Ugaritic; see, for example, CTA 16 vi 22-23, where ksi (= כִּסֵּא, kisse’, “throne”) and ’d (= עד, “dais”) appear as synonyms in the poetic parallelism (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 91). Emending בַּשַּׁחַק (bashakhaq, “in the heavens”) to כַּשַׁחַק (kashakhaq, “like the heavens”) – bet/kaf (כ/ב) confusion is widely attested – one can then read “[his] throne like the heavens [is] firm/stable.” Verse 29 refers to the enduring nature of the heavens, while Job 37:18 speaks of God spreading out the heavens (שְׁחָקִים, shÿkhaqim) and compares their strength to a bronze mirror. Ps 89:29 uses the term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim, “skies”) which frequently appears in parallelism to שְׁחָקִים.
11 tn Heb “the deeds of his hands [are].”
12 tn That is, fair and for man’s good.
13 tn Heb “done in faithfulness and uprightness.” The passive participle probably has the force of a gerund. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 89.
14 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.