1 Kings 3:9

3:9 So give your servant a discerning mind ¹  so he can make judicial decisions for ²  your people and distinguish right from wrong. ³  Otherwise ⁴  no one is able ⁵  to make judicial decisions for ⁶  this great nation of yours.” ⁷ 

1 Kings 3:28

3:28 When all Israel heard about the judicial decision which the king had rendered, they respected ⁸  the king, for they realized ⁹  that he possessed supernatural wisdom ¹⁰  to make judicial decisions.

1 Kings 5:7

5:7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was very happy. He said, “The Lord is worthy of praise today because he ¹¹  has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”

1 Kings 10:9

10:9 May the Lord your God be praised because he favored ¹²  you by placing you on the throne of Israel! Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he made you king so you could make just and right decisions.” ¹³ 

Psalms 72:1-4

Psalm 72 ¹⁴ 

For ¹⁵  Solomon.

72:1 O God, grant the king the ability to make just decisions! ¹⁶ 

Grant the king’s son ¹⁷  the ability to make fair decisions! ¹⁸ 

72:2 Then he will judge ¹⁹  your people fairly,

and your oppressed ones ²⁰  equitably.

72:3 The mountains will bring news of peace to the people,

and the hills will announce justice. ²¹ 

72:4 He will defend ²²  the oppressed among the people;

he will deliver ²³  the children ²⁴  of the poor

and crush the oppressor.

Psalms 99:4

99:4 The king is strong;

he loves justice. ²⁵ 

You ensure that legal decisions will be made fairly; ²⁶ 

you promote justice and equity in Jacob.

Isaiah 1:26

1:26 I will reestablish honest judges as in former times,

wise advisers as in earlier days. ²⁷ 

Then you will be called, ‘The Just City,

Faithful Town.’”

Isaiah 32:1-2

Justice and Wisdom Will Prevail

32:1 Look, a king will promote fairness; ²⁸ 

officials will promote justice. ²⁹ 

32:2 Each of them ³⁰  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.

Jeremiah 33:15

33:15 In those days and at that time I will raise up for them a righteous descendant ³¹  of David.

“‘He will do what is just and right in the land.

Revelation 19:11

The Son of God Goes to War

19:11 Then ³²  I saw heaven opened and here came ³³  a white horse! The ³⁴  one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice ³⁵  he judges and goes to war.

[3:9]  ¹ tn Heb “a hearing heart.” (The Hebrew term translated “heart” often refers to the mental faculties.)

[3:9]  ² tn Heb “to judge.”

[3:9]  ³ tn Heb “to understand between good and evil.”

[3:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “for”; the word “otherwise” is used to reflect the logical sense of the statement.

[3:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “who is able?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “no one.”

[3:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “to judge.”

[3:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “your numerous people.”

[3:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “feared,” perhaps in the sense, “stood in awe of.”

[3:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “saw.”

[3:28]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the wisdom of God within him.”

[5:7]  ¹¹ tn Or “Blessed be the Lord today, who….”

[10:9]  ¹² tn Or “delighted in.”

[10:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “to do justice and righteousness.”

[72:1]  ¹⁴ sn Psalm 72. This royal psalm contains a prayer for the Davidic king (note the imperatival form in v. 1 and the jussive forms in vv. 16-17). It is not entirely clear if vv. 2-15 express a prayer or anticipate a future reign. The translation assumes a blend of petition and vision: (I) opening prayer (v. 1), followed by anticipated results if prayer is answered (vv. 2-7); (II) prayer (v. 8), followed by anticipated results if prayer is answered (vv. 9-14); (III) closing prayer (vv. 15-17). Whether a prayer, vision, or combination of the two, the psalm depicts the king’s universal rule of peace and prosperity. As such it is indirectly messianic, for the ideal it expresses will only be fully realized during the Messiah’s earthly reign. Verses 18-19 are a conclusion for Book 2 of the Psalter (Pss 42-72; cf. Ps 41:13, which contains a similar conclusion for Book 1), while v. 20 appears to be a remnant of an earlier collection of psalms or an earlier edition of the Psalter.

[72:1]  ¹⁵ tn The preposition could be understood as indicating authorship (“Of Solomon”), but since the psalm is a prayer for a king, it may be that the superscription reflects a tradition that understood this as a prayer for Solomon.

[72:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “O God, your judgments to [the] king give.”

[72:1]  ¹⁷ sn Grant the king…Grant the king’s son. It is not entirely clear whether v. 1 envisions one individual or two. The phrase “the king’s son” in the second line may simply refer to “the king” of the first line, drawing attention to the fact that he has inherited his dynastic rule. Another option is that v. 1 envisions a co-regency between father and son (a common phenomenon in ancient Israel) or simply expresses a hope for a dynasty that champions justice.

[72:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and your justice to [the] son of [the] king.”

[72:2]  ¹⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:2]  ²⁰ sn These people are called God’s oppressed ones because he is their defender (see Pss 9:12, 18; 10:12; 12:5).

[72:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “[the] mountains will bear peace to the people, and [the] hills with justice.” The personified mountains and hills probably represent messengers who will sweep over the land announcing the king’s just decrees and policies. See Isa 52:7 and C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 2:133.

[72:4]  ²² tn Heb “judge [for].”

[72:4]  ²³ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “sons.”

[99:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and strength, a king, justice he loves.” The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult here. The translation assumes that two affirmations are made about the king, the Lord (see v. 1, and Ps 98:6). The noun עֹז (’oz, “strength”) should probably be revocalized as the adjective עַז (’az, “strong”).

[99:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “you establish fairness.”

[1:26]  ²⁷ tn Heb “I will restore your judges as in the beginning; and your counselors as in the beginning.” In this context, where social injustice and legal corruption are denounced (see v. 23), the “judges” are probably government officials responsible for making legal decisions, while the “advisers” are probably officials who helped the king establish policies. Both offices are also mentioned in 3:2.

[32:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “will reign according to fairness.”

[32:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “will rule according to justice.”

[32:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “a man,” but אִישׁ (’ish) probably refers here to “each” of the officials mentioned in the previous verse.

[33:15]  ³¹ tn Heb “sprig” or “shoot.”

[19:11]  ³² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:11]  ³³ tn The phrase “and here came” expresses the sense of καὶ ἰδού (kai idou).

[19:11]  ³⁴ tn A new sentence was started in the translation at this point and καί (kai) was not translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[19:11]  ³⁵ tn Or “in righteousness,” but since the context here involves the punishment of the wicked and the vindication of the saints, “justice” was preferred.