1 Kings 11:36

11:36 I will leave ¹  his son one tribe so my servant David’s dynasty may continue to serve me ²  in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen as my home. ³ 

Psalms 89:30-34

89:30 If his sons reject my law

and disobey my regulations,

89:31 if they break ⁴  my rules

and do not keep my commandments,

89:32 I will punish their rebellion by beating them with a club, ⁵ 

their sin by inflicting them with bruises. ⁶ 

89:33 But I will not remove ⁷  my loyal love from him,

nor be unfaithful to my promise. ⁸ 

89:34 I will not break ⁹  my covenant

or go back on what I promised. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 7:14

7:14 For this reason the sovereign master himself will give you a confirming sign. ¹¹  Look, this ¹²  young woman ¹³  is about to conceive ¹⁴  and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him ¹⁵  Immanuel. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 9:7

9:7 His dominion will be vast ¹⁷ 

and he will bring immeasurable prosperity. ¹⁸ 

He will rule on David’s throne

and over David’s kingdom, ¹⁹ 

establishing it ²⁰  and strengthening it

by promoting justice and fairness, ²¹ 

from this time forward and forevermore.

The Lord’s intense devotion to his people ²²  will accomplish this.

Isaiah 11:1-10

An Ideal King Establishes a Kingdom of Peace

11:1 A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s ²³  root stock,

a bud will sprout ²⁴  from his roots.

11:2 The Lord’s spirit will rest on him ²⁵  –

a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, ²⁶ 

a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, ²⁷ 

a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord. ²⁸ 

11:3 He will take delight in obeying the Lord. ²⁹ 

He will not judge by mere appearances, ³⁰ 

or make decisions on the basis of hearsay. ³¹ 

11:4 He will treat the poor fairly, ³² 

and make right decisions ³³  for the downtrodden of the earth. ³⁴ 

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, ³⁵ 

and order the wicked to be executed. ³⁶ 

11:5 Justice will be like a belt around his waist,

integrity will be like a belt around his hips. ³⁷ 

11:6 A wolf will reside ³⁸  with a lamb,

and a leopard will lie down with a young goat;

an ox and a young lion will graze together, ³⁹ 

as a small child leads them along.

11:7 A cow and a bear will graze together,

their young will lie down together. ⁴⁰ 

A lion, like an ox, will eat straw.

11:8 A baby ⁴¹  will play

over the hole of a snake; ⁴² 

over the nest ⁴³  of a serpent

an infant ⁴⁴  will put his hand. ⁴⁵ 

11:9 They will no longer injure or destroy

on my entire royal mountain. ⁴⁶ 

For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s sovereignty,

just as the waters completely cover the sea. ⁴⁷ 

Israel is Reclaimed and Reunited

11:10 At that time ⁴⁸  a root from Jesse ⁴⁹  will stand like a signal flag for the nations. Nations will look to him for guidance, ⁵⁰  and his residence will be majestic.

Jeremiah 23:5-6

23:5 “I, the Lord, promise ⁵¹  that a new time will certainly come ⁵² 

when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, ⁵³  a descendant of David.

He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding ⁵⁴ 

and will do what is just and right in the land. ⁵⁵ 

23:6 Under his rule ⁵⁶  Judah will enjoy safety ⁵⁷ 

and Israel will live in security. ⁵⁸ 

This is the name he will go by:

‘The Lord has provided us with justice.’ ⁵⁹ 

Lamentations 3:31-32

כ (Kaf)

3:31 For the Lord ⁶⁰  will not

reject us forever. ⁶¹ 

3:32 Though he causes us ⁶²  grief, he then has compassion on us ⁶³ 

according to the abundance of his loyal kindness. ⁶⁴ 

Luke 1:32-33

1:32 He ⁶⁵  will be great, ⁶⁶  and will be called the Son of the Most High, ⁶⁷  and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father ⁶⁸  David. 1:33 He ⁶⁹  will reign over the house of Jacob ⁷⁰  forever, and his kingdom will never end.”

Luke 2:4

2:4 So ⁷¹  Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth ⁷²  in Galilee to Judea, to the city ⁷³  of David called Bethlehem, ⁷⁴  because he was of the house ⁷⁵  and family line ⁷⁶  of David.

Luke 2:11

2:11 Today ⁷⁷  your Savior is born in the city ⁷⁸  of David. ⁷⁹  He is Christ ⁸⁰  the Lord.

[11:36]  ¹ tn Heb “give.”

[11:36]  ² tn Heb “so there might be a lamp for David my servant all the days before me in Jerusalem.” The metaphorical “lamp” symbolizes the Davidic dynasty. Because this imagery is unfamiliar to the modern reader, the translation “so my servant David’s dynasty may continue to serve me” has been used.

[11:36]  ³ tn Heb “so there might be a lamp for David my servant all the days before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name there.”

[89:31]  ⁴ tn Or “desecrate.”

[89:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will punish with a club their rebellion.”

[89:32]  ⁶ tn Heb “with blows their sin.”

[89:33]  ⁷ tn Heb “break”; “make ineffectual.” Some prefer to emend אָפִיר (’afir; the Hiphil of פָּרַר, parar, “to break”) to אָסִיר (’asir; the Hiphil of סוּר, sur, “to turn aside”), a verb that appears in 2 Sam 7:15.

[89:33]  ⁸ tn Heb “and I will not deal falsely with my faithfulness.”

[89:34]  ⁹ tn Or “desecrate.”

[89:34]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and what proceeds out of my lips I will not alter.”

[7:14]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term אוֹת (’ot, “sign”) can refer to a miraculous event (see v. 11), but it does not carry this sense inherently. Elsewhere in Isaiah the word usually refers to a natural occurrence or an object/person vested with special significance (see 8:18; 19:20; 20:3; 37:30; 55:13; 66:19). Only in 38:7-8, 22 does it refer to a miraculous deed that involves suspending or overriding natural laws. The sign outlined in vv. 14-17 involves God’s providential control over events and their timing, but not necessarily miraculous intervention.

[7:14]  ¹² tn Heb “the young woman.” The Hebrew article has been rendered as a demonstrative pronoun (“this”) in the translation to bring out its force. It is very likely that Isaiah pointed to a woman who was present at the scene of the prophet’s interview with Ahaz. Isaiah’s address to the “house of David” and his use of second plural forms suggests other people were present, and his use of the second feminine singular verb form (“you will name”) later in the verse is best explained if addressed to a woman who is present.

[7:14]  ¹³ tn Traditionally, “virgin.” Because this verse from Isaiah is quoted in Matt 1:23 in connection with Jesus’ birth, the Isaiah passage has been regarded since the earliest Christian times as a prophecy of Christ’s virgin birth. Much debate has taken place over the best way to translate this Hebrew term, although ultimately one’s view of the doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ is unaffected. Though the Hebrew word used here (עַלְמָה, ’almah) can sometimes refer to a woman who is a virgin (Gen 24:43), it does not carry this meaning inherently. The word is simply the feminine form of the corresponding masculine noun עֶלֶם (’elem, “young man”; cf. 1 Sam 17:56; 20:22). The Aramaic and Ugaritic cognate terms are both used of women who are not virgins. The word seems to pertain to age, not sexual experience, and would normally be translated “young woman.” The LXX translator(s) who later translated the Book of Isaiah into Greek sometime between the second and first century b.c., however, rendered the Hebrew term by the more specific Greek word παρθένος (parqenos), which does mean “virgin” in a technical sense. This is the Greek term that also appears in the citation of Isa 7:14 in Matt 1:23. Therefore, regardless of the meaning of the term in the OT context, in the NT Matthew’s usage of the Greek term παρθένος clearly indicates that from his perspective a virgin birth has taken place.

[7:14]  ¹⁴ tn Elsewhere the adjective הָרָה (harah), when used predicatively, refers to a past pregnancy (from the narrator’s perspective, 1 Sam 4:19), to a present condition (Gen 16:11; 38:24; 2 Sam 11:5), and to a conception that is about to occur in the near future (Judg 13:5, 7). (There is some uncertainty about the interpretation of Judg 13:5, 7, however. See the notes to those verses.) In Isa 7:14 one could translate, “the young woman is pregnant.” In this case the woman is probably a member of the royal family. Another option, the one followed in the present translation, takes the adjective in an imminent future sense, “the young woman is about to conceive.” In this case the woman could be a member of the royal family, or, more likely, the prophetess with whom Isaiah has sexual relations shortly after this (see 8:3).

[7:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and you will call his name.” The words “young lady” are supplied in the translation to clarify the identity of the addressee. The verb is normally taken as an archaic third feminine singular form here, and translated, “she will call.” However the form (קָרָאת, qara’t) is more naturally understood as second feminine singular, in which case the words would be addressed to the young woman mentioned just before this. In the three other occurrences of the third feminine singular perfect of I קָרָא (qara’, “to call”), the form used is קָרְאָה (qar’ah; see Gen 29:35; 30:6; 1 Chr 4:9). A third feminine singular perfect קָרָאת does appear in Deut 31:29 and Jer 44:23, but the verb here is the homonym II קָרָא (“to meet, encounter”). The form קָרָאת (from I קָרָא, “to call”) appears in three other passages (Gen 16:11; Isa 60:18; Jer 3:4 [Qere]) and in each case is second feminine singular.

[7:14]  ¹⁶ sn The name Immanuel means “God [is] with us.”

[9:7]  ¹⁷ tc The Hebrew text has לְםַרְבֵּה (lÿmarbeh), which is a corrupt reading. לם is dittographic; note the preceding word, שָׁלוֹם (shalom). The corrected text reads literally, “great is the dominion.”

[9:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and to peace there will be no end” (KJV and ASV both similar). On the political and socio-economic sense of שָׁלוֹם (shalom) in this context, see the note at v. 6 on “Prince of Peace.”

[9:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “over the throne of David, and over his kingdom.” The referent of the pronoun “his” (i.e., David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:7]  ²⁰ tn The feminine singular pronominal suffix on this form and the following one (translated “it” both times) refers back to the grammatically feminine noun “kingdom.”

[9:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “with/by justice and fairness”; ASV “with justice and with righteousness.”

[9:7]  ²² tn Heb “the zeal of the Lord.” In this context the Lord’s “zeal” refers to his intense devotion to and love for his people which prompts him to vindicate them and to fulfill his promises to David and the nation.

[11:1]  ²³ sn The text mentions David’s father Jesse, instead of the great king himself. Perhaps this is done for rhetorical reasons to suggest that a new David, not just another disappointing Davidic descendant, will arise. Other prophets call the coming ideal Davidic king “David” or picture him as the second coming of David, as it were. See Jer 30:9; Ezek 34:23-24; 37:24-25; Hos 3:5; and Mic 5:2 (as well as the note there).

[11:1]  ²⁴ tc The Hebrew text has יִפְרֶה (yifreh, “will bear fruit,” from פָּרָה, parah), but the ancient versions, as well as the parallelism suggest that יִפְרַח (yifrakh, “will sprout”, from פָּרַח, parakh) is the better reading here. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:276, n. 2.

[11:2]  ²⁵ sn Like David (1 Sam 16:13), this king will be energized by the Lord’s spirit.

[11:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “a spirit of wisdom and understanding.” The synonyms are joined here to emphasize the degree of wisdom he will possess. His wisdom will enable him to make just legal decisions (v. 3). A very similar phrase occurs in Eph 1:17.

[11:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “a spirit of counsel [or “strategy”] and strength.” The construction is a hendiadys; the point is that he will have the strength/ability to execute the plans/strategies he devises. This ability will enable him to suppress oppressors and implement just policies (v. 4).

[11:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.” “Knowledge” is used here in its covenantal sense and refers to a recognition of God’s authority and a willingness to submit to it. See Jer 22:16. “Fear” here refers to a healthy respect for God’s authority which produces obedience. Taken together the two terms emphasize the single quality of loyalty to the Lord. This loyalty guarantees that he will make just legal decisions and implement just policies (vv. 4-5).

[11:3]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “and his smelling is in the fear of the Lord.” In Amos 5:21 the Hiphil of רוּחַ (ruakh, “smell”) carries the nuance of “smell with delight, get pleasure from.” There the Lord declares that he does not “smell with delight” (i.e., get pleasure from) Israel’s religious assemblies, which probably stand by metonymy for the incense offered during these festivals. In Isa 11:3 there is no sacrificial context to suggest such a use, but it is possible that “the fear of the Lord” is likened to incense. This coming king will get the same kind of delight from obeying (fearing) the Lord, as a deity does in the incense offered by worshipers. Some regard such an explanation as strained in this context, and prefer to omit this line from the text as a virtual dittograph of the preceding statement.

[11:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “by what appears to his eyes”; KJV “after the sight of his eyes”; NIV “by what he sees with his eyes.”

[11:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “by what is heard by his ears”; NRSV “by what his ears hear.”

[11:4]  ³² tn Heb “with justice” (so NAB) or “with righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[11:4]  ³³ tn Heb “make decisions with rectitude”; cf. ASV, NRSV “and decide with equity.”

[11:4]  ³⁴ tn Or “land” (NAB, NCV, CEV). It is uncertain if the passage is picturing universal dominion or focusing on the king’s rule over his covenant people. The reference to God’s “holy mountain” in v. 9 and the description of renewed Israelite conquests in v. 14 suggest the latter, though v. 10 seems to refer to a universal kingdom (see 2:2-4).

[11:4]  ³⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he will strike the earth with the scepter of his mouth.” Some have suggested that in this context אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) as an object of judgment seems too broad in scope. The parallelism is tighter if one emends the word to ץ(י)עָרִ (’arits, “potentate, tyrant”). The phrase “scepter of his mouth” refers to the royal (note “scepter”) decrees that he proclaims with his mouth. Because these decrees will have authority and power (see v. 2) behind them, they can be described as “striking” the tyrants down. Nevertheless, the MT reading may not need emending. Isaiah refers to the entire “earth” as the object of God’s judgment in several places without specifying the wicked as the object of the judgment (Isa 24:17-21; 26:9, 21; 28:22; cf. 13:11).

[11:4]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.” The “breath of his lips” refers to his speech, specifically in this context his official decrees that the wicked oppressors be eliminated from his realm. See the preceding note.

[11:5]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Justice will be the belt [or “undergarment”] on his waist, integrity the belt [or “undergarment”] on his hips.” The point of the metaphor is uncertain. If a belt worn outside the robe is in view, then the point might be that justice/integrity will be readily visible or that these qualities will give support to his rule. If an undergarment is in view, then the idea might be that these characteristics support his rule or that they are basic to everything else.

[11:6]  ³⁸ tn The verb גּוּר (gur) normally refers to living as a dependent, resident alien in another society.

[11:6]  ³⁹ tc The Hebrew text reads, “and an ox, and a young lion, and a fatling together.” Since the preceding lines refer to two animals and include a verb, many emend וּמְרִיא (umÿri’, “and the fatling”) to an otherwise unattested verb יִמְרְאוּ (yimrÿ’u, “they will graze”); cf. NAB, TEV, CEV. One of the Qumran copies of Isaiah confirms this suggestion (1QIsa^a). The present translation assumes this change.

[11:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and a cow and a bear will graze – together – they will lie down, their young.” This is a case of pivot pattern; יַחְדָּו (yakhddav, “together”) goes with both the preceding and following statements.

[11:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “one sucking,” i.e., still being nursed by his mother.

[11:8]  ⁴² tn Or perhaps, “cobra” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV); KJV, ASV, NRSV “asp.”

[11:8]  ⁴³ tc The Hebrew text has the otherwise unattested מְאוּרַת (mÿ’urat, “place of light”), i.e., opening of a hole. Some prefer to emend to מְעָרַת (mÿ’arat, “cave, den”).

[11:8]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “one who is weaned” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[11:8]  ⁴⁵ sn The transformation of the animal kingdom depicted here typifies what will occur in human society under the just rule of the ideal king (see vv. 3-5). The categories “predator-prey” (i.e., oppressor-oppressed) will no longer exist.

[11:9]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “in all my holy mountain.” In the most basic sense the Lord’s “holy mountain” is the mountain from which he rules over his kingdom (see Ezek 28:14, 16). More specifically it probably refers to Mount Zion/Jerusalem or to the entire land of Israel (see Pss 2:6; 15:1; 43:3; Isa 56:7; 57:13; Ezek 20:40; Ob 16; Zeph 3:11). If the Lord’s universal kingdom is in view in this context (see the note on “earth” at v. 4), then the phrase would probably be metonymic here, standing for God’s worldwide dominion (see the next line).

[11:9]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “for the earth will be full of knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” The translation assumes that a universal kingdom is depicted here, but אֶרֶץ (’erets) could be translated “land” (see the note at v. 4). “Knowledge of the Lord” refers here to a recognition of the Lord’s sovereignty which results in a willingness to submit to his authority. See the note at v. 2.

[11:10]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “in that day” (KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[11:10]  ⁴⁹ sn See the note at v. 1.

[11:10]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “ a root from Jesse, which stands for a signal flag of the nations, of him nations will inquire” [or “seek”].

[23:5]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:5]  ⁵² tn Heb “Behold the days are coming.”

[23:5]  ⁵³ tn Heb “a righteous sprig to David” or “a righteous shoot” (NAB).

[23:5]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “he will reign as king and act wisely.” This is another example of the use of two verbs joined by “and” where one becomes the adverbial modifier of the other (hendiadys). For the nuance of the verb “act wisely” rather than “prosper” see Amos 5:13; Ps 2:10 (cf. BDB 968 s.v. שָׂכַל Hiph.5).

[23:5]  ⁵⁵ sn This has been the constant emphasis in this section. See 22:3 for the demand, 22:15 for its fulfillment, and 22:13 for its abuse. The ideal king would follow in the footsteps of his illustrious ancestor David (2 Sam 8:15) who set this forth as an ideal for his dynasty (2 Sam 23:3) and prayed for it to be true of his son Solomon (Ps 72:1-2).

[23:6]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “In his days [= during the time he rules].”

[23:6]  ⁵⁷ tn Parallelism and context (cf. v. 4) suggest this nuance for the word often translated “be saved.” For this nuance elsewhere see Ps 119:117; Prov 28:18 for the verb (יָשַׁע [yasha’] in the Niphal); and Ps 12:6; Job 5:4, 11 for the related noun (יֶשַׁע, yesha’).

[23:6]  ⁵⁸ sn It should be noted that this brief oracle of deliverance implies the reunification of Israel and Judah under the future Davidic ruler. Jeremiah has already spoken about this reunification earlier in 3:18 and will have more to say about it in 30:3; 31:27, 31. This same ideal was espoused in the prophecies of Hosea (1:10-11 [2:1-2 HT]), Isaiah (11:1-4, 10-12), and Ezekiel (37:15-28) all of which have messianic and eschatological significance.

[23:6]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “his name will be called ‘The Lord our righteousness’.”

[3:31]  ⁶⁰ tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

[3:31]  ⁶¹ tn The verse is unusually short and something unrecoverable may be missing.

[3:32]  ⁶² tn Heb “Although he has caused grief.” The word “us” is added in the translation.

[3:32]  ⁶³ tn Heb “He will have compassion.” The words “on us” are added in the translation.

[3:32]  ⁶⁴ tc The Kethib preserves the singular form חַסְדּוֹ (khasdo, “his kindness”), also reflected in the LXX and Aramaic Targum. The Qere reads the plural form חֲסָדָיו (khasadayv, “his kindnesses”) which is reflected in the Latin Vulgate.

[1:32]  ⁶⁵ tn Grk “this one.”

[1:32]  ⁶⁶ sn Compare the description of Jesus as great here with 1:15, “great before the Lord.” Jesus is greater than John, since he is Messiah compared to a prophet. Great is stated absolutely without qualification to make the point.

[1:32]  ⁶⁷ sn The expression Most High is a way to refer to God without naming him. Such avoiding of direct reference to God was common in 1st century Judaism out of reverence for the divine name.

[1:32]  ⁶⁸ tn Or “ancestor.”

[1:33]  ⁶⁹ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. A new sentence is begun here in the translation because of the length of the sentence in Greek.

[1:33]  ⁷⁰ tn Or “over Israel.”

[2:4]  ⁷¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the consequential nature of the action.

[2:4]  ⁷² sn On Nazareth see Luke 1:26.

[2:4]  ⁷³ tn Or “town.” The translation “city” is used here because of its collocation with “of David,” suggesting its importance, though not its size.

[2:4]  ⁷⁴ sn The journey from Nazareth to the city of David called Bethlehem was a journey of about 90 mi (150 km). Bethlehem was a small village located about 7 miles south-southwest of Jerusalem.

[2:4]  ⁷⁵ sn Luke’s use of the term “house” probably alludes to the original promise made to David outlined in the Nathan oracle of 2 Sam 7:12-16, especially in light of earlier connections between Jesus and David made in Luke 1:32. Further, the mention of Bethlehem reminds one of the promise of Mic 5:2, namely, that a great king would emerge from Bethlehem to rule over God’s people.

[2:4]  ⁷⁶ tn Or “family,” “lineage.”

[2:11]  ⁷⁷ sn The Greek word for today (σήμερον, shmeron) occurs eleven times in the Gospel of Luke (2:11; 4:21; 5:26; 12:28; 13:32-33; 19:5, 9; 22:34, 61; 23:43) and nine times in Acts. Its use, especially in passages such as 2:11, 4:21, 5:26; 19:5, 9, signifies the dawning of the era of messianic salvation and the fulfillment of the plan of God. Not only does it underscore the idea of present fulfillment in Jesus’ ministry, but it also indicates salvific fulfillment present in the church (cf. Acts 1:6; 3:18; D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:412; I. H. Marshall, Luke, [NIGTC], 873).

[2:11]  ⁷⁸ tn Or “town.” See the note on “city” in v. 4.

[2:11]  ⁷⁹ tn This is another indication of a royal, messianic connection.

[2:11]  ⁸⁰ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”