34:20 He protects 1 all his bones; 2
not one of them is broken. 3
89:35 Once and for all I have vowed by my own holiness,
I will never deceive 4 David.
62:11 God has declared one principle;
two principles I have heard: 5
God is strong, 6
27:4 I have asked the Lord for one thing –
this is what I desire!
I want to live 7 in the Lord’s house 8 all the days of my life,
so I can gaze at the splendor 9 of the Lord
and contemplate in his temple.
1 tn The Hebrew participial form suggests such protection is characteristic.
2 tn That is, he protects the godly from physical harm.
3 sn Not one of them is broken. The author of the Gospel of John saw a fulfillment of these words in Jesus’ experience on the cross (see John 19:31-37), for the Roman soldiers, when they saw that Jesus was already dead, did not break his legs as was customarily done to speed the death of crucified individuals. John’s use of the psalm seems strange, for the statement in its original context suggests that the Lord protects the godly from physical harm. Jesus’ legs may have remained unbroken, but he was brutally and unjustly executed by his enemies. John seems to give the statement a literal sense that is foreign to its original literary context by applying a promise of divine protection to a man who was seemingly not saved by God. However, John saw in this incident a foreshadowing of Jesus’ ultimate deliverance and vindication. His unbroken bones were a reminder of God’s commitment to the godly and a sign of things to come. Jesus’ death on the cross was not the end of the story; God vindicated him, as John goes on to explain in the following context (John 19:38-20:18).
4 tn Or “lie to.”
7 tn Heb “one God spoke, two which I heard.” This is a numerical saying utilizing the “x” followed by “x + 1” pattern to facilitate poetic parallelism. (See W. M. W. Roth, Numerical Sayings in the Old Testament [VTSup], 55-56.) As is typical in such sayings, a list corresponding to the second number (in this case “two”) follows. Another option is to translate, “God has spoken once, twice [he has spoken] that which I have heard.” The terms אַחַת (’akhat, “one; once”) and שְׁתַּיִם (shÿtayim, “two; twice”) are also juxtaposed in 2 Kgs 6:10 (where they refer to an action that was done more than “once or twice”) and in Job 33:14 (where they refer to God speaking “one way” and then in “another manner”).
8 tn Heb “that strength [belongs] to God.”
10 tn Heb “my living.”
11 sn The
12 tn Or “beauty.”