Genesis 15:4

15:4 But look, ¹  the word of the Lord came to him: “This man ²  will not be your heir, ³  but instead ⁴  a son ⁵  who comes from your own body will be ⁶  your heir.” ⁷ 

Genesis 15:1

The Cutting of the Covenant

15:1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield ⁸  and the one who will reward you in great abundance.” ⁹ 

Genesis 8:20

8:20 Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 8:1

8:1 But God remembered ¹¹  Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over ¹²  the earth and the waters receded.

Genesis 17:11

17:11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder ¹³  of the covenant between me and you.

Psalms 89:29

89:29 I will give him an eternal dynasty, ¹⁴ 

and make his throne as enduring as the skies above. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 132:11-12

132:11 The Lord made a reliable promise to David; ¹⁶ 

he will not go back on his word. ¹⁷ 

He said, ¹⁸  “I will place one of your descendants ¹⁹  on your throne.

132:12 If your sons keep my covenant

and the rules I teach them,

their sons will also sit on your throne forever.”

Isaiah 9:7

9:7 His dominion will be vast ²⁰ 

and he will bring immeasurable prosperity. ²¹ 

He will rule on David’s throne

and over David’s kingdom, ²² 

establishing it ²³  and strengthening it

by promoting justice and fairness, ²⁴ 

from this time forward and forevermore.

The Lord’s intense devotion to his people ²⁵  will accomplish this.

Isaiah 11:1-3

An Ideal King Establishes a Kingdom of Peace

11:1 A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s ²⁶  root stock,

a bud will sprout ²⁷  from his roots.

11:2 The Lord’s spirit will rest on him ²⁸  –

a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, ²⁹ 

a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, ³⁰ 

a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord. ³¹ 

11:3 He will take delight in obeying the Lord. ³² 

He will not judge by mere appearances, ³³ 

or make decisions on the basis of hearsay. ³⁴ 

Isaiah 11:10

Israel is Reclaimed and Reunited

11:10 At that time ³⁵  a root from Jesse ³⁶  will stand like a signal flag for the nations. Nations will look to him for guidance, ³⁷  and his residence will be majestic.

Matthew 22:42-44

22:42 “What do you think about the Christ? ³⁸  Whose son is he?” They said, “The son of David.” ³⁹  22:43 He said to them, “How then does David by the Spirit call him ‘Lord,’ saying,

22:44 ‘The Lord said to my lord, ⁴⁰ 

“Sit at my right hand,

until I put your enemies under your feet”’? ⁴¹ 

Acts 2:30

2:30 So then, because ⁴²  he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants ⁴³  on his throne, ⁴⁴ 

[15:4]  ¹ tn The disjunctive draws attention to God’s response and the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, translated “look”) mirrors Abram’s statement in v. 3 and highlights the fact that God responded to Abram.

[15:4]  ² tn The subject of the verb is the demonstrative pronoun, which can be translated “this one” or “this man.” That the Lord does not mention him by name is significant; often in ancient times the use of the name would bring legitimacy to inheritance and adoption cases.

[15:4]  ³ tn Heb “inherit you.”

[15:4]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew כִּי־אִם (ki-’im) forms a very strong adversative.

[15:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “he who”; the implied referent (Abram’s unborn son who will be his heir) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[15:4]  ⁶ tn The pronoun could also be an emphatic subject: “whoever comes out of your body, he will inherit you.”

[15:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “will inherit you.”

[15:1]  ⁸ sn The noun “shield” recalls the words of Melchizedek in 14:20. If God is the shield, then God will deliver. Abram need not fear reprisals from those he has fought.

[15:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “your reward [in] great abundance.” When the phrase הַרְבּה מְאֹדֵ (harbeh mÿod) follows a noun it invariably modifies the noun and carries the nuance “very great” or “in great abundance.” (See its use in Gen 41:49; Deut 3:5; Josh 22:8; 2 Sam 8:8; 12:2; 1 Kgs 4:29; 10:10-11; 2 Chr 14:13; 32:27; Jer 40:12.) Here the noun “reward” is in apposition to “shield” and refers by metonymy to God as the source of the reward. Some translate here “your reward will be very great” (cf. NASB, NRSV), taking the statement as an independent clause and understanding the Hiphil infinitive absolute as a substitute for a finite verb. However, the construction הַרְבּה מְאֹדֵ is never used this way elsewhere, where it either modifies a noun (see the texts listed above) or serves as an adverb in relation to a finite verb (see Josh 13:1; 1 Sam 26:21; 2 Sam 12:30; 2 Kgs 21:16; 1 Chr 20:2; Neh 2:2).

[8:20]  ¹⁰ sn Offered burnt offerings on the altar. F. D. Maurice includes a chapter on the sacrifice of Noah in The Doctrine of Sacrifice. The whole burnt offering, according to Leviticus 1, represented the worshiper’s complete surrender and dedication to the Lord. After the flood Noah could see that God was not only a God of wrath, but a God of redemption and restoration. The one who escaped the catastrophe could best express his gratitude and submission through sacrificial worship, acknowledging God as the sovereign of the universe.

[8:1]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew word translated “remembered” often carries the sense of acting in accordance with what is remembered, i.e., fulfilling covenant promises (see B. S. Childs, Memory and Tradition in Israel [SBT], especially p. 34).

[8:1]  ¹² tn Heb “to pass over.”

[17:11]  ¹³ tn Or “sign.”

[89:29]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and I will set in place forever his offspring.”

[89:29]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and his throne like the days of the heavens.”

[132:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the Lord swore an oath to David [in] truth.”

[132:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he will not turn back from it.”

[132:11]  ¹⁸ tn The words “he said” are supplied in the translation to clarify that what follows are the Lord’s words.

[132:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the fruit of your body.”

[9:7]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Heb “with/by justice and fairness”; ASV “with justice and with righteousness.”

[9:7]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ sn Like David (1 Sam 16:13), this king will be energized by the Lord’s spirit.

[11:2]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ 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]  ³² 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]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ tn Heb “by what is heard by his ears”; NRSV “by what his ears hear.”

[11:10]  ³⁵ 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]  ³⁶ sn See the note at v. 1.

[11:10]  ³⁷ tn Heb “ a root from Jesse, which stands for a signal flag of the nations, of him nations will inquire” [or “seek”].

[22:42]  ³⁸ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[22:42]  ³⁹ sn It was a common belief in Judaism that Messiah would be the son of David in that he would come from the lineage of David. On this point the Pharisees agreed and were correct. But their understanding was nonetheless incomplete, for Messiah is also David’s Lord. With this statement Jesus was affirming that, as the Messiah, he is both God and man.

[22:44]  ⁴⁰ sn The Lord said to my Lord. With David being the speaker, this indicates his respect for his descendant (referred to as my Lord). Jesus was arguing, as the ancient exposition assumed, that the passage is about the Lord’s anointed. The passage looks at an enthronement of this figure and a declaration of honor for him as he takes his place at the side of God. In Jerusalem, the king’s palace was located to the right of the temple to indicate this kind of relationship. Jesus was pressing the language here to get his opponents to reflect on how great Messiah is.

[22:44]  ⁴¹ sn A quotation from Ps 110:1.

[2:30]  ⁴² tn The participles ὑπάρχων (Juparcwn) and εἰδώς (eidw") are translated as causal adverbial participles.

[2:30]  ⁴³ tn Grk “one from the fruit of his loins.” “Loins” is the traditional translation of ὀσφῦς (osfu"), referring to the male genital organs. A literal rendering like “one who came from his genital organs” would be regarded as too specific and perhaps even vulgar by many contemporary readers. Most modern translations thus render the phrase “one of his descendants.”

[2:30]  ⁴⁴ sn An allusion to Ps 132:11 and 2 Sam 7:12-13, the promise in the Davidic covenant.