27:10 Even if my father and mother abandoned me, 1
the Lord would take me in. 2
68:5 He is a father to the fatherless
and an advocate for widows. 3
God rules from his holy palace. 4
89:26 He will call out to me,
‘You are my father, 5 my God, and the protector who delivers me.’ 6
1 tn Or “though my father and mother have abandoned me.”
2 tn Heb “gather me in”; or “receive me.”
3 sn God is depicted here as a just ruler. In the ancient Near Eastern world a king was responsible for promoting justice, including caring for the weak and vulnerable, epitomized by the fatherless and widows.
4 tn Heb “God [is] in his holy dwelling place.” He occupies his throne and carries out his royal responsibilities.
5 sn You are my father. The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7). 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 tn Heb “the rocky summit of my deliverance.”