2:6 “I myself 1 have installed 2 my king
on Zion, my holy hill.”
2:7 The king says, 3 “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: 4
‘You are my son! 5 This very day I have become your father!
2:8 Ask me,
and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, 6
the ends of the earth as your personal property.
2:9 You will break them 7 with an iron scepter; 8
you will smash them like a potter’s jar!’” 9
45:6 Your throne, 10 O God, is permanent. 11
The scepter 12 of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.
45:7 You love 13 justice and hate evil. 14
For this reason God, your God 15 has anointed you 16
with the oil of joy, 17 elevating you above your companions. 18
For the music director; according to the tune of “Lilies;” 20 by the Korahites, a well-written poem, 21 a love song.
45:1 My heart is stirred by a beautiful song. 22
I say, “I have composed this special song 23 for the king;
my tongue is as skilled as the stylus of an experienced scribe.” 24
1:13 But to which of the angels 30 has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? 31
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 The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.
4 tn Or “I will relate the decree. The
5 sn ‘You are my son!’ The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26-27). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.
6 sn I will give you the nations. The
7 tc The LXX reads “you will shepherd them.” This reading, quoted in the Greek text of the NT in Rev 2:27; 12:5; 19:15, assumes a different vocalization of the consonantal Hebrew text and understands the verb as רָעָה (ra’ah, “to shepherd”) rather than רָעָע (ra’a’, “to break”). But the presence of נָפַץ (nafats, “to smash”) in the next line strongly favors the MT vocalization.
8 tn The Hebrew term שֵׁבֶט (shevet) can refer to a “staff” or “rod,” but here it probably refers to the Davidic king’s royal scepter, symbolizing his sovereignty.
9 sn Like a potter’s jar. Before the Davidic king’s awesome power, the rebellious nations are like fragile pottery.
10 sn The king’s throne here symbolizes his rule.
11 tn Or “forever and ever.”
12 sn The king’s scepter symbolizes his royal authority.
13 sn To love justice means to actively promote it.
14 sn To hate evil means to actively oppose it.
15 tn For other examples of the repetition of Elohim, “God,” see Pss 43:4; 48:8, 14; 50:7; 51:14; 67:7. Because the name Yahweh (“
16 sn Anointed you. When read in the light of the preceding context, the anointing is most naturally taken as referring to the king’s coronation. However, the following context (vv. 8-9) focuses on the wedding ceremony, so some prefer to see this anointing as part of the king’s preparations for the wedding celebration. Perhaps the reference to his anointing at his coronation facilitates the transition to the description of the wedding, for the king was also anointed on this occasion.
17 sn The phrase oil of joy alludes to the fact that the coronation of the king, which was ritually accomplished by anointing his head with olive oil, was a time of great celebration and renewed hope. (If one understands the anointing in conjunction with the wedding ceremony, the “joy” would be that associated with the marriage.) The phrase “oil of joy” also appears in Isa 61:3, where mourners are granted “oil of joy” in conjunction with their deliverance from oppression.
18 tn Heb “from your companions.” The “companions” are most naturally understood as others in the royal family or, more generally, as the king’s countrymen.
19 sn Psalm 45. This is a romantic poem celebrating the Davidic king’s marriage to a lovely princess. The psalmist praises the king for his military prowess and commitment to justice, urges the bride to be loyal to the king, and anticipates that the marriage will be blessed with royal offspring.
20 tn Heb “according to lilies.” “Lilies” may be a tune title or musical style, suggestive of romantic love. The imagery of a “lily” appears frequently in the Song of Solomon in a variety of contexts (see 2:1-2, 16; 4:5; 5:13; 6:2-3; 7:2).
21 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 42.
22 tn Heb “[with] a good word.” The “good word” probably refers here to the song that follows.
23 tn Heb “my works [are] for a king.” The plural “works” may here indicate degree, referring to the special musical composition that follows.
24 tn Heb “my tongue [is] a stylus of a skillful scribe.” Words flow from the psalmist’s tongue just as they do from a scribe’s stylus.
25 tn BDAG 697 s.v. οἰκονομία 1.b renders the term here as “divine office.”
26 tn See BDAG 828 s.v. πληρόω 3. The idea here seems to be that the apostle wants to “complete the word of God” in that he wants to preach it to every person in the known world (cf. Rom 15:19). See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 82.
27 tn Grk “who being…and sustaining.” Heb 1:1-4 form one skillfully composed sentence in Greek, but it must be broken into shorter segments to correspond to contemporary English usage, which does not allow for sentences of this length and complexity.
28 tn Grk “by the word of his power.”
29 sn An allusion to Ps 110:1, quoted often in Hebrews.
30 sn The parallel phrases to which of the angels in vv. 5 and 13 show the unity of this series of quotations (vv. 5-14) in revealing the superiority of the Son over angels (v. 4).
31 sn A quotation from Ps 110:1.
32 tn Grk “this one.” This pronoun refers to Jesus, but “this priest” was used in the translation to make the contrast between the Jewish priests in v. 11 and Jesus as a priest clearer in English.
33 sn An allusion to Ps 110:1.
34 tn Grk “from then on waiting.”
35 sn An allusion to Ps 110:1.