2 Samuel 23:3

23:3 The God of Israel spoke,

the protector ¹  of Israel spoke to me.

The one who rules fairly among men,

the one who rules in the fear of God,

Psalms 72:1-4

Psalm 72 ² 

For ³  Solomon.

72:1 O God, grant the king the ability to make just decisions! ⁴ 

Grant the king’s son ⁵  the ability to make fair decisions! ⁶ 

72:2 Then he will judge ⁷  your people fairly,

and your oppressed ones ⁸  equitably.

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

and the hills will announce justice. ⁹ 

72:4 He will defend ¹⁰  the oppressed among the people;

he will deliver ¹¹  the children ¹²  of the poor

and crush the oppressor.

Psalms 72:7

72:7 During his days the godly will flourish; ¹³ 

peace will prevail as long as the moon remains in the sky. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 72:11-14

72:11 All kings will bow down to him;

all nations will serve him.

72:12 For he will rescue the needy ¹⁵  when they cry out for help,

and the oppressed ¹⁶  who have no defender.

72:13 He will take pity ¹⁷  on the poor and needy;

the lives of the needy he will save.

72:14 From harm and violence he will defend them; ¹⁸ 

he will value their lives. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 99:4

99:4 The king is strong;

he loves justice. ²⁰ 

You ensure that legal decisions will be made fairly; ²¹ 

you promote justice and equity in Jacob.

Isaiah 9:7

9:7 His dominion will be vast ²² 

and he will bring immeasurable prosperity. ²³ 

He will rule on David’s throne

and over David’s kingdom, ²⁴ 

establishing it ²⁵  and strengthening it

by promoting justice and fairness, ²⁶ 

from this time forward and forevermore.

The Lord’s intense devotion to his people ²⁷  will accomplish this.

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 23:5

23:5 “I, the Lord, promise ³¹  that a new time will certainly come ³² 

when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, ³³  a descendant of David.

He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding ³⁴ 

and will do what is just and right in the land. ³⁵ 

Jeremiah 38:15

38:15 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I answer you, you will certainly kill me. ³⁶  If I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”

Zechariah 9:9

9:9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion!

Shout, daughter of Jerusalem!

Look! Your king is coming to you:

he is legitimate ³⁷  and victorious, ³⁸ 

humble and riding on a donkey ³⁹  –

on a young donkey, the foal of a female donkey.

[23:3]  ¹ tn Heb “rock,” used as a metaphor of divine protection.

[72:1]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “O God, your judgments to [the] king give.”

[72:1]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “and your justice to [the] son of [the] king.”

[72:2]  ⁷ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:2]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “judge [for].”

[72:4]  ¹¹ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:4]  ¹² tn Heb “sons.”

[72:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “sprout up,” like crops. This verse continues the metaphor of rain utilized in v. 6.

[72:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and [there will be an] abundance of peace until there is no more moon.”

[72:12]  ¹⁵ tn The singular is representative. The typical needy individual here represents the entire group.

[72:12]  ¹⁶ tn The singular is representative. The typical oppressed individual here represents the entire group.

[72:13]  ¹⁷ tn The prefixed verb form is best understood as a defectively written imperfect (see Deut 7:16).

[72:14]  ¹⁸ tn Or “redeem their lives.” The verb “redeem” casts the Lord in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Pss 19:14; 69:18).

[72:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “their blood will be precious in his eyes.”

[99:4]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Heb “you establish fairness.”

[9:7]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “with/by justice and fairness”; ASV “with justice and with righteousness.”

[9:7]  ²⁷ 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.

[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.

[23:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:5]  ³² tn Heb “Behold the days are coming.”

[23:5]  ³³ tn Heb “a righteous sprig to David” or “a righteous shoot” (NAB).

[23:5]  ³⁴ 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]  ³⁵ 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).

[38:15]  ³⁶ tn Or “you will most certainly kill me, won’t you?” Heb “Will you not certainly kill me?” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer. In situations like this BDB s.v. לֹא 4.b(β) says that הֲלֹא (halo’) “has a tendency to become little more than an affirmative particle, declaring with some rhetorical emphasis what is, or might be, well known.” The idea of certainty is emphasized here by the addition of the infinitive absolute before the finite verb (Joüon 2:422 §123.e).

[9:9]  ³⁷ tn The Hebrew term צַדִּיק (tsadiq) ordinarily translated “righteous,” frequently occurs, as here, with the idea of conforming to a standard or meeting certain criteria. The Messianic king riding into Jerusalem is fully qualified to take the Davidic throne (cf. 1 Sam 23:3; Isa 9:5-6; 11:4; 16:5; Jer 22:1-5; 23:5-6).

[9:9]  ³⁸ tn The Hebrew term נוֹשָׁע (nosha’) a Niphal participle of יָשַׁע (yasha’, “to save”) could mean “one delivered” or, if viewed as active, “one bringing salvation” (similar KJV, NIV, NKJV). It is preferable to take the normal passive use of the Niphal and understand that the king, having been delivered, is as a result “victorious” (so also NRSV, TEV, NLT).

[9:9]  ³⁹ sn The NT understands this verse to be a prophecy of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and properly so (cf. Matt 21:5; John 12:15), but reference to the universal rule of the king in v. 10 reveals that this is a “split prophecy,” that is, it has a two-stage fulfillment. Verse 9 was fulfilled in Jesus’ earthly ministry but v. 10 awaits a millennial consummation (cf. Rev 19:11-16).