Psalms 5:3

5:3 Lord, in the morning ¹  you will hear ²  me; ³ 

in the morning I will present my case to you ⁴  and then wait expectantly for an answer. ⁵ 

Psalms 101:8

101:8 Each morning I will destroy all the wicked people in the land,

and remove all evildoers from the city of the Lord.

Proverbs 8:15

8:15 Kings reign by means of me,

and potentates ⁶  decree ⁷  righteousness;

Isaiah 50:4

The Servant Perseveres

50:4 The sovereign Lord has given me the capacity to be his spokesman, ⁸ 

so that I know how to help the weary. ⁹ 

He wakes me up every morning;

he makes me alert so I can listen attentively as disciples do. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 21:12

21:12 O royal family descended from David. ¹¹ 

The Lord says:

‘See to it that people each day ¹²  are judged fairly. ¹³ 

Deliver those who have been robbed from those ¹⁴  who oppress them.

Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you.

It will burn like a fire that cannot be put out

because of the evil that you have done. ¹⁵ 

[5:3]  ¹ sn In the morning is here viewed as the time of prayer (Pss 59:16; 88:13) and/or of deliverance (Ps 30:5).

[5:3]  ² tn The imperfect is here understood in a specific future sense; the psalmist is expressing his confidence that God will be willing to hear his request. Another option is to understand the imperfect as expressing the psalmist’s wish or request. In this case one could translate, “Lord, in the morning hear me.”

[5:3]  ³ tn Heb “my voice.”

[5:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will arrange for you.” Some understand a sacrifice or offering as the implied object (cf. NEB “I set out my morning sacrifice”). The present translation assumes that the implied object is the psalmist’s case/request. See Isa 44:7.

[5:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and I will watch.”

[8:15]  ⁶ tn The verb רָזַן (razan) means “to be weighty; to be judicious; to be commanding.” It only occurs in the Qal active participle in the plural as a substantive, meaning “potentates; rulers” (e.g., Ps 1:1-3). Cf. KJV, ASV “princes”; NAB “lawgivers.”

[8:15]  ⁷ sn This verb יְחֹקְקוּ (yÿkhoqqu) is related to the noun חֹק (khoq), which is a “statute; decree.” The verb is defined as “to cut in; to inscribe; to decree” (BDB 349 s.v. חָקַק). The point the verse is making is that when these potentates decree righteousness, it is by wisdom. History records all too often that these rulers acted as fools and opposed righteousness (cf. Ps 2:1-3). But people in power need wisdom to govern the earth (e.g., Isa 11:1-4 which predicts how Messiah will use wisdom to do this very thing). The point is underscored with the paronomasia in v. 15 with “kings” and “will reign” from the same root, and then in v. 16 with both “princes” and “rule” being cognate. The repetition of sounds and meanings strengthens the statements.

[50:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “has given to me a tongue of disciples.”

[50:4]  ⁹ tc Heb “to know [?] the weary with a word.” Comparing it with Arabic and Aramaic cognates yields the meaning of “help, sustain.” Nevertheless, the meaning of עוּת (’ut) is uncertain. The word occurs only here in the OT (see BDB 736 s.v.). Various scholars have suggested an emendation to עָנוֹת (’anot) from עָנָה (’anah, “answer”): “so that I know how to respond kindly to the weary.” Since the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and the Vulgate support the MT reading, that reading is retained.

[50:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he arouses for me an ear, to hear like disciples.”

[21:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house of David.” This is essentially equivalent to the royal court in v. 11.

[21:12]  ¹² tn Heb “to the morning” = “morning by morning” or “each morning.” See Isa 33:2 and Amos 4:4 for parallel usage.

[21:12]  ¹³ sn The kings of Israel and Judah were responsible for justice. See Pss 122:5. The king himself was the final court of appeals judging from the incident of David with the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Sam 14), Solomon and the two prostitutes (1 Kgs 3:16-28), and Absalom’s attempts to win the hearts of the people of Israel by interfering with due process (2 Sam 15:2-4). How the system was designed to operate may be seen from 2 Chr 19:4-11.

[21:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”

[21:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Lest my wrath go out like fire and burn with no one to put it out because of the evil of your deeds.”