Psalms 72:17-19

72:17 May his fame endure! ¹ 

May his dynasty last as long as the sun remains in the sky! ² 

May they use his name when they formulate their blessings! ³ 

May all nations consider him to be favored by God! ⁴ 

72:18 The Lord God, the God of Israel, deserves praise! ⁵ 

He alone accomplishes amazing things! ⁶ 

72:19 His glorious name deserves praise ⁷  forevermore!

May his majestic splendor ⁸  fill the whole earth!

We agree! We agree! ⁹ 

Psalms 118:25-26

118:25 Please Lord, deliver!

Please Lord, grant us success! ¹⁰ 

118:26 May the one who comes in the name of the Lord ¹¹  be blessed!

We will pronounce blessings on you ¹²  in the Lord’s temple. ¹³ 

Matthew 21:9-11

21:9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those following kept shouting, ¹⁴  “Hosanna ¹⁵  to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁶  Hosanna in the highest!” 21:10 As he entered Jerusalem the whole city was thrown into an uproar, ¹⁷  saying, “Who is this?” 21:11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth ¹⁸  in Galilee.”

Matthew 23:39

23:39 For I tell you, you will not see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’” ¹⁹ 

Mark 11:8-10

11:8 Many spread their cloaks on the road and others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 11:9 Both those who went ahead and those who followed kept shouting, “Hosanna! ²⁰  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! ²¹  11:10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

Luke 19:35-38

19:35 Then ²²  they brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks ²³  on the colt, ²⁴  and had Jesus get on ²⁵  it. 19:36 As ²⁶  he rode along, they ²⁷  spread their cloaks on the road. 19:37 As he approached the road leading down from ²⁸  the Mount of Olives, ²⁹  the whole crowd of his ³⁰  disciples began to rejoice ³¹  and praise ³²  God with a loud voice for all the mighty works ³³  they had seen: ³⁴  19:38 “Blessed is the king ³⁵  who comes in the name of the Lord! ³⁶  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

[72:17]  ¹ tn Heb “may his name [be] permanent.” The prefixed verbal form is jussive, not imperfect.

[72:17]  ² tn Heb “before the sun may his name increase.” The Kethib (consonantal text) assumes יָנִין (yanin; a Hiphil of the verbal root נִין, nin) or יְנַיֵן (yÿnayen; a Piel form), while the Qere (marginal reading) assumes יִנּוֹן (yinnon; a Niphal form). The verb נִין occurs only here, though a derived noun, meaning “offspring,” appears elsewhere (see Isa 14:22). The verb appears to mean “propagate, increase” (BDB 630 s.v. נוּן, נִין) or “produce shoots, get descendants” (HALOT 696 s.v. נין). In this context this appears to be a prayer for a lasting dynasty that will keep the king’s name and memory alive.

[72:17]  ³ tn Heb “may they bless one another by him,” that is, use the king’s name in their blessing formulae because he is a prime example of one blessed by God (for examples of such blessing formulae, see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11). There is some debate on whether the Hitpael form of בָּרַךְ (barakh, “bless”) is reflexive-reciprocal (as assumed in the present translation) or passive. The Hitpael of בָּרַךְ occurs in five other passages, including the hotly debated Gen 22:18 and 26:4. In these two texts one could understand the verb form as passive and translate, “all the nations of the earth will be blessed through your offspring,” or one could take the Hitpael as reflexive or reciprocal and translate, “all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings [i.e., on themselves or one another] by your offspring.” In the first instance Abraham’s (or Isaac’s) offspring are viewed as a channel of divine blessing. In the second instance they are viewed as a prime example of blessing that will appear as part of the nations’ blessing formulae, but not necessarily as a channel of blessing to the nations. In Deut 29:18 one reads: “When one hears the words of this covenant [or “oath”] and invokes a blessing on himself (Hitpael of בָּרַךְ) in his heart, saying: ‘I will have peace, even though I walk with a rebellious heart.’” In this case the Hitpael is clearly reflexive, as the phrases “in his heart” and “I will have peace” indicate. The Hitpael of בָּרַךְ appears twice in Isaiah 65:16: “The one who invokes a blessing on himself (see Deut 9:18) in the land will invoke that blessing by the God of truth; and the one who makes an oath in the land will make that oath by the God of truth.” A passive nuance does not fit here. The parallel line, which mentions making an oath, suggests that the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ refers here to invoking a blessing. Both pronouncements of blessing and oaths will appeal to God as the one who rewards and judges, respectively. Jer 4:2 states: “If you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ with truth, integrity, and honesty, then the nations will pronounce blessings by him and boast in him.” A passive nuance might work (“the nations will be blessed”), but the context refers to verbal pronouncements (swearing an oath, boasting), suggesting that the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ refers here to invoking a blessing. The logic of the verse seems to be as follows: If Israel conducts its affairs with integrity, the nation will be favored by the Lord, which will in turn attract the surrounding nations to Israel’s God. To summarize, while the evidence might leave the door open for a passive interpretation, there is no clear cut passive use. Usage favors a reflexive or reciprocal understanding of the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ. In Ps 72:17 the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ is followed by the prepositional phrase בוֹ (vo, “by him”). The verb could theoretically be taken as passive, “may all the nations be blessed through him” (cf. NIV, NRSV), because the preceding context describes the positive effects of this king’s rule on the inhabitants of the earth. But the parallel line, which employs the Piel of אָשַׁר (’ashar) in a factitive/declarative sense, “regard as happy, fortunate,” suggests a reflexive or reciprocal nuance for the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ here. If the nations regard the ideal king as a prime example of one who is fortunate or blessed, it is understandable that they would use his name in their pronouncements of blessing.

[72:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “all the nations, may they regard him as happy.” The Piel is used here in a delocutive sense (“regard as”).

[72:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “[be] blessed.” See Pss 18:46; 28:6; 31:21; 41:13.

[72:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “[the] one who does amazing things by himself.”

[72:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “[be] blessed.”

[72:19]  ⁸ tn Or “glory.”

[72:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “surely and surely” (אָמֵן וְאָמֵן [’amen vÿ’amen], i.e., “Amen and amen”). This is probably a congregational response of agreement to the immediately preceding statement about the propriety of praising God.

[118:25]  ¹⁰ sn A petition for deliverance and success seems odd in a psalm thanking God for deliverance, but it is not unique (see Ps 9:19-20). The people ask God to continue to intervene for them as he has for the psalmist.

[118:26]  ¹¹ sn The people refer here to the psalmist, who enters the Lord’s temple to thank him publicly (see vv. 19-21), as the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

[118:26]  ¹² tn The pronominal suffix is second masculine plural, but the final mem (ם) is probably dittographic (note the mem [מ] at the beginning of the following form) or enclitic, in which case the suffix may be taken as second masculine singular, referring to the psalmist.

[118:26]  ¹³ tn Heb “from the house of the Lord.”

[21:9]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “were shouting, saying.” The participle λέγοντας (legontas) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[21:9]  ¹⁵ tn The expression ῾Ωσαννά (Jwsanna, literally in Hebrew, “O Lord, save”) in the quotation from Ps 118:25-26 was probably by this time a familiar liturgical expression of praise, on the order of “Hail to the king,” although both the underlying Aramaic and Hebrew expressions meant “O Lord, save us.” In words familiar to every Jew, the author is indicating that at this point every messianic expectation is now at the point of realization. It is clear from the words of the psalm shouted by the crowd that Jesus is being proclaimed as messianic king. See E. Lohse, TDNT 9:682-84.

[21:9]  ¹⁶ sn A quotation from Ps 118:25-26.

[21:10]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “was shaken.” The translation “thrown into an uproar” is given by L&N 25.233.

[21:11]  ¹⁸ map For location see Map1 D3; Map2 C2; Map3 D5; Map4 C1; Map5 G3.

[23:39]  ¹⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 118:26.

[11:9]  ²⁰ tn The expression ῾Ωσαννά (Jwsanna, literally in Hebrew, “O Lord, save”) in the quotation from Ps 118:25-26 was probably by this time a familiar liturgical expression of praise, on the order of “Hail to the king,” although both the underlying Aramaic and Hebrew expressions meant “O Lord, save us.” The introductory ὡσαννά is followed by the words of Ps 118:25, εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου (euloghmeno" Jo ercomeno" en onomati kuriou), although in the Fourth Gospel the author adds for good measure καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ ᾿Ισραήλ (kai Jo basileu" tou Israhl). In words familiar to every Jew, the author is indicating that at this point every messianic expectation is now at the point of realization. It is clear from the words of the psalm shouted by the crowd that Jesus is being proclaimed as messianic king. See E. Lohse, TDNT 9:682-84.

[11:9]  ²¹ sn A quotation from Ps 118:25-26.

[19:35]  ²² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[19:35]  ²³ tn Grk “garments”; but this refers in context to their outer cloaks. The action is like 2 Kgs 9:13.

[19:35]  ²⁴ sn See Zech 9:9.

[19:35]  ²⁵ tn Although ἐπεβίβασαν (epebibasan) is frequently translated “set [Jesus] on it” or “put [Jesus] on it,” when used of a riding animal the verb can mean “to cause to mount” (L&N 15.98); thus here “had Jesus get on it.” The degree of assistance is not specified.

[19:36]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[19:36]  ²⁷ tn The disciples initiated this action (since in 19:35 and 37 they are the subject) but the other gospels indicate the crowds also became involved. Thus it is difficult to specify the referent here as “the disciples” or “people.”

[19:37]  ²⁸ tn Grk “the descent of”; this could refer to either the slope of the hillside itself or the path leading down from it (the second option has been adopted for the translation, see L&N 15.109).

[19:37]  ²⁹ sn See the note on the name Mount of Olives in v. 29.

[19:37]  ³⁰ tn Grk “the”; the Greek article has been translated here as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[19:37]  ³¹ tn Here the participle χαίροντες (caironte") has been translated as a finite verb in English; it could also be translated adverbially as a participle of manner: “began to praise God joyfully.”

[19:37]  ³² sn See 2:13, 20; Acts 2:47; 3:8-9.

[19:37]  ³³ tn Or “works of power,” “miracles.” Jesus’ ministry of miracles is what has drawn attention. See Luke 7:22.

[19:37]  ³⁴ tn Grk “they had seen, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[19:38]  ³⁵ sn Luke adds the title king to the citation from Ps 118:26 to make clear who was meant (see Luke 18:38). The psalm was used in looking for the deliverance of the end, thus leading to the Pharisees’ reaction.

[19:38]  ³⁶ sn A quotation from Ps 118:26.