2:6 “I myself 1 have installed 2 my king
on Zion, my holy hill.”
24:7 Look up, 3 you gates!
Rise up, 4 you eternal doors!
Then the majestic king 5 will enter! 6
24:8 Who is this majestic king? 7
The Lord who is strong and mighty!
The Lord who is mighty in battle!
24:9 Look up, you gates!
Rise up, you eternal doors!
Then the majestic king will enter!
24:10 Who is this majestic king?
The Lord who commands armies! 8
He is the majestic king! (Selah)
A psalm of David.
110:1 Here is the Lord’s proclamation 10 to my lord: 11
“Sit down at my right hand 12 until I make your enemies your footstool!” 13
110:2 The Lord 14 extends 15 your dominion 16 from Zion.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
The Beloved about Her Lover:
1:12 While the king was at his banqueting table, 17
my nard 18 gave forth its fragrance. 19
32:1 Look, a king will promote fairness; 20
officials will promote justice. 21
32:2 Each of them 22 will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from a rainstorm;
like streams of water in a dry region
and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.
1 tn The first person pronoun appears before the first person verbal form for emphasis, reflected in the translation by “myself.”
2 tn Or perhaps “consecrated.”
3 tn Heb “lift up your heads.” The gates of the Lord’s dwelling place are here personified. The idiom “lift up the head” often means “be confident, bold” (see Judg 8:28; Job 10:15; Ps 83:2; Zech 1:21).
4 tn Heb “lift yourselves up.”
5 tn Or “king of glory.”
6 tn Following the imperatives of the preceding lines, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.
7 sn Who is this majestic king? Perhaps the personified gates/doors ask this question, in response to the command given in v. 7.
8 tn Traditionally, “the
9 sn Psalm 110. In this royal psalm the psalmist announces God’s oracle to the Davidic king. The first part of the oracle appears in v. 1, the second in v. 4. In vv. 2-3 the psalmist addresses the king, while in vv. 5-7 he appears to address God.
10 tn The word נְאֻם (nÿ’um) is used frequently in the OT of a formal divine announcement through a prophet.
11 sn My lord. In the psalm’s original context the speaker is an unidentified prophetic voice in the royal court. In the course of time the psalm is applied to each successive king in the dynasty and ultimately to the ideal Davidic king. NT references to the psalm understand David to be speaking about his “lord,” the Messiah. (See Matt 22:43-45; Mark 12:36-37; Luke 20:42-44; Acts 2:34-35).
12 tn To sit at the “right hand” of the king was an honor (see 1 Kgs 2:19). In Ugaritic myth (CTA 4 v. 108-10) the artisan god Kothar-and Khasis is described as sitting at the right hand of the storm god Baal. See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 61-62.
13 sn When the Lord made his covenant with David, he promised to subdue the king’s enemies (see 2 Sam 7:9-11; Ps 89:22-23).
14 tn Since the
15 tn The prefixed verbal form is understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though it could be taken as future.
16 tn Heb “your strong scepter,” symbolic of the king’s royal authority and dominion.
17 tn The lexicons suggest that מֵסַב (mesav) refers to a round banquet table (HALOT 604 s.v. מֵסַב) or divan with cushions (BDB 687 s.v. מֵסַב 2). In Mishnaic Hebrew the noun מֵסַב refers to a dining couch, banquet table, as well as cushions or pillows (HALOT 604). The related noun מְסִבָּה (mÿsibbah) refers to a banqueting party (HALOT 604 s.v. מְסִבָּה; Jastrow 803 s.v. מְסִבָּה). The versions took it as a reference to a resting place (see LXX, Vulgate, Syriac Peshitta). R. E. Murphy (Song of Songs [Hermeneia], 131) suggests that it refers to (1) a couch or divan on which a person declined while eating, (2) a group of people gathered in a circle, that is, an entourage, or (3) a private place such as an enclosure.
18 sn “Nard” (נֵרְדְּ, nerdÿ) was an aromatic oil extracted from the Valerian nardostachys jatamansi which was an aromatic drug from a plant which grew in the Himalaya region of India, used for perfume (HALOT 723 s.v. נֵרְדְּ). Nard was an expensive imported perfume, worn by women at banquets because of its seductive charms. It was used in the ANE as a love potion because of its erotic fragrance (R. K. Harrison, Healing Herbs of the Bible, 48-49).
19 tn Or “The fragrance of my myrrh wafted forth.”
20 tn Heb “will reign according to fairness.”
21 tn Heb “will rule according to justice.”
22 tn Heb “a man,” but אִישׁ (’ish) probably refers here to “each” of the officials mentioned in the previous verse.
23 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
24 sn Mention of the inscription is an important detail, because the inscription would normally give the reason for the execution. It shows that Jesus was executed for claiming to be a king. It was also probably written with irony from the executioners’ point of view.
25 tn Grk “was written.”