Jeremiah 22:30

22:30 The Lord says,

“Enroll this man in the register as though he were childless. ¹ 

Enroll him as a man who will not enjoy success during his lifetime.

For none of his sons will succeed in occupying the throne of David

or ever succeed in ruling over Judah.”

Psalms 45:4

45:4 Appear in your majesty and be victorious! ² 

Ride forth for the sake of what is right, ³ 

on behalf of justice! ⁴ 

Then your right hand will accomplish mighty acts! ⁵ 

Isaiah 9:7

9:7 His dominion will be vast ⁶ 

and he will bring immeasurable prosperity. ⁷ 

He will rule on David’s throne

and over David’s kingdom, ⁸ 

establishing it ⁹  and strengthening it

by promoting justice and fairness, ¹⁰ 

from this time forward and forevermore.

The Lord’s intense devotion to his people ¹¹  will accomplish this.

Isaiah 52:13

The Lord Will Vindicate His Servant

52:13 “Look, my servant will succeed! ¹² 

He will be elevated, lifted high, and greatly exalted ¹³  –

Isaiah 53:10

53:10 Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill,

once restitution is made, ¹⁴ 

he will see descendants and enjoy long life, ¹⁵ 

and the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished through him.

Luke 1:32-33

1:32 He ¹⁶  will be great, ¹⁷  and will be called the Son of the Most High, ¹⁸  and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father ¹⁹  David. 1:33 He ²⁰  will reign over the house of Jacob ²¹  forever, and his kingdom will never end.”

[22:30]  ¹ tn Heb “Write this man childless.” For the explanation see the study note. The word translated “childless” has spawned some debate because Jeconiah was in fact not childless. There is record from both the Bible and ancient Near Eastern texts that he had children (see, e.g., 1 Chr 3:17). G. R. Driver, “Linguistic and Textual Problems: Jeremiah,” JQR 28 (1937-38): 115, has suggested that the word both here and in Lev 20:20-21 should be translated “stripped of honor.” While that would relieve some of the difficulties here, the word definitely means “childless” in Gen 15:2 and also in Sir 16:3 where it is contrasted with having godless children. The issue is not one of childlessness but of having “one of his sons” succeed to the Davidic throne. The term for “one of his sons” is literally “from his seed a man” and the word “seed” is the same one that is used to refer to his “children” who were forced into exile with him (v. 28).

[45:4]  ² tn Heb “and your majesty, be successful.” The syntax is awkward. The phrase “and your majesty” at the beginning of the verse may be accidentally repeated (dittography); it appears at the end of v. 3.

[45:4]  ³ tn Or “for the sake of truth.”

[45:4]  ⁴ tc The precise meaning of the MT is uncertain. The form עַנְוָה (’anvah) occurs only here. One could emend the text to עֲנָוָה וְצֶדֶק (’anavah vÿtsedeq, “[for the sake of truth], humility, and justice”). In this case “humility” would perhaps allude to the king’s responsibility to “serve” his people by promoting justice (cf. NIV “in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness”). The present translation assumes an emendation to יַעַן (ya’an, “because; on account of”) which would form a suitable parallel to עַל־דְּבַר (’al-dÿvar, “because; for the sake of”) in the preceding line.

[45:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and your right hand will teach you mighty acts”; or “and may your right hand teach you mighty acts.” After the imperatives in the first half of the verse, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive likely indicates purpose (“so that your right hand might teach you mighty acts”) or result (see the present translation). The “right hand” here symbolizes the king’s military strength. His right hand will “teach” him mighty acts by performing them and thereby causing him to experience their magnificence.

[9:7]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with/by justice and fairness”; ASV “with justice and with righteousness.”

[9:7]  ¹¹ 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.

[52:13]  ¹² tn Heb “act wisely,” which by metonymy means “succeed.”

[52:13]  ¹³ tn This piling up of synonyms emphasizes the degree of the servant’s coming exaltation.

[53:10]  ¹⁴ tn The meaning of this line is uncertain. It reads literally, “if you/she makes, a reparation offering, his life.” The verb תָּשִׂים (tasim) could be second masculine singular,in which case it would have to be addressed to the servant or to God. However, the servant is only addressed once in this servant song (see 52:14a), and God either speaks or is spoken about in this servant song; he is never addressed. Furthermore, the idea of God himself making a reparation offering is odd. If the verb is taken as third feminine singular, then the feminine noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) at the end of the line is the likely subject. In this case one can take the suffixed form of the noun as equivalent to a pronoun and translate, “if he [literally, “his life”] makes a reparation offering.”

[53:10]  ¹⁵ sn The idiomatic and stereotypical language emphasizes the servant’s restoration to divine favor. Having numerous descendants and living a long life are standard signs of divine blessing. See Job 42:13-16.

[1:32]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “this one.”

[1:32]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Or “ancestor.”

[1:33]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Or “over Israel.”