Psalms 2:5-6

2:5 Then he angrily speaks to them

and terrifies them in his rage, ¹  saying, ² 

2:6 “I myself ³  have installed ⁴  my king

on Zion, my holy hill.”

Psalms 2:12

2:12 Give sincere homage! ⁵ 

Otherwise he ⁶  will be angry, ⁷ 

and you will die because of your behavior, ⁸ 

when his anger quickly ignites. ⁹ 

How blessed ¹⁰  are all who take shelter in him! ¹¹ 

Psalms 21:8-12

21:8 You ¹²  prevail over ¹³  all your enemies;

your power is too great for those who hate you. ¹⁴ 

21:9 You burn them up like a fiery furnace ¹⁵  when you appear; ¹⁶ 

the Lord angrily devours them; ¹⁷ 

the fire consumes them.

21:10 You destroy their offspring ¹⁸  from the earth,

their descendants ¹⁹  from among the human race. ²⁰ 

21:11 Yes, ²¹  they intend to do you harm; ²² 

they dream up a scheme, ²³  but they do not succeed. ²⁴ 

21:12 For you make them retreat ²⁵ 

when you shoot your arrows at them. ²⁶ 

Psalms 40:14-15

40:14 May those who are trying to snatch away my life

be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ²⁷ 

May those who want to harm me

be turned back and ashamed! ²⁸ 

40:15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”

be humiliated ²⁹  and disgraced! ³⁰ 

Psalms 110:1

Psalm 110 ³¹ 

A psalm of David.

110:1 Here is the Lord’s proclamation ³²  to my lord: ³³ 

“Sit down at my right hand ³⁴  until I make your enemies your footstool!” ³⁵ 

Psalms 110:5-6

110:5 O sovereign Lord, ³⁶  at your right hand

he strikes down ³⁷  kings in the day he unleashes his anger. ³⁸ 

110:6 He executes judgment ³⁹  against ⁴⁰  the nations;

he fills the valleys with corpses; ⁴¹ 

he shatters their heads over the vast battlefield. ⁴² 

Psalms 110:2

110:2 The Lord ⁴³  extends ⁴⁴  your dominion ⁴⁵  from Zion.

Rule in the midst of your enemies!

Psalms 17:1

Psalm 17 ⁴⁶ 

A prayer of David.

17:1 Lord, consider my just cause! ⁴⁷ 

Pay attention to my cry for help!

Listen to the prayer

I sincerely offer! ⁴⁸ 

Psalms 18:32

18:32 The one true God ⁴⁹  gives ⁵⁰  me strength; ⁵¹ 

he removes ⁵²  the obstacles in my way. ⁵³ 

Psalms 18:1

Psalm 18 ⁵⁴ 

For the music director; by the Lord’s servant David, who sang ⁵⁵  to the Lord the words of this song when ⁵⁶  the Lord rescued him from the power ⁵⁷  of all his enemies, including Saul. ⁵⁸ 

18:1 He said: ⁵⁹ 

“I love ⁶⁰  you, Lord, my source of strength! ⁶¹ 

Psalms 2:1

Psalm 2 ⁶² 

2:1 Why ⁶³  do the nations rebel? ⁶⁴ 

Why ⁶⁵  are the countries ⁶⁶  devising ⁶⁷  plots that will fail? ⁶⁸ 

Luke 19:27

19:27 But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, ⁶⁹  bring them here and slaughter ⁷⁰  them ⁷¹  in front of me!’”

Luke 19:1

Jesus and Zacchaeus

19:1 Jesus ⁷²  entered Jericho ⁷³  and was passing through it.

Luke 2:15-16

2:15 When ⁷⁴  the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem ⁷⁵  and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord ⁷⁶  has made known to us.” 2:16 So they hurried off and located Mary and Joseph, and found the baby lying in a manger. ⁷⁷ 

[2:5]  ¹ sn And terrifies them in his rage. This line focuses on the effect that God’s angry response (see previous line) has on the rebellious kings.

[2:5]  ² tn The word “saying” is supplied in the translation for clarification to indicate that the speaker is the Lord (cf. RSV, NIV).

[2:6]  ³ tn The first person pronoun appears before the first person verbal form for emphasis, reflected in the translation by “myself.”

[2:6]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “consecrated.”

[2:12]  ⁵ tn Traditionally, “kiss the son” (KJV). But בַּר (bar) is the Aramaic word for “son,” not the Hebrew. For this reason many regard the reading as suspect. Some propose emendations of vv. 11b-12a. One of the more popular proposals is to read בִּרְעָדָה נַשְּׁקוּ לְרַגְלָיו (bir’adah nashÿqu lÿraslayv, “in trembling kiss his feet”). It makes better sense to understand בַּר (bar) as an adjective meaning “pure” (see Pss 24:4; 73:1 and BDB 141 s.v. בַּר 3) functioning here in an adverbial sense. If read this way, then the syntactical structure of exhortation (imperative followed by adverbial modifier) corresponds to the two preceding lines (see v. 11). The verb נָשַׁק (nashaq, “kiss”) refers metonymically to showing homage (see 1 Sam 10:1; Hos 13:2). The exhortation in v. 12a advocates a genuine expression of allegiance and warns against insincerity. When swearing allegiance, vassal kings would sometimes do so insincerely, with the intent of rebelling when the time was right. The so-called “Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon” also warn against such an attitude. In this treaty the vassal is told: “If you, as you stand on the soil where this oath [is sworn], swear the oath with your words and lips [only], do not swear with your entire heart, do not transmit it to your sons who will live after this treaty, if you take this curse upon yourselves but do not plan to keep the treaty of Esarhaddon…may your sons and grandsons because of this fear in the future” (see J. B. Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near East, 2:62).

[2:12]  ⁶ tn Throughout the translation of this verse the third person masculine pronouns refer to the Lord (cf. v. 11).

[2:12]  ⁷ tn The implied subject of the verb is the Lord, mentioned in v. 11. Elsewhere the subject of this verb is consistently the Lord, suggesting it may be a technical term for divine anger. Anger is here used metonymically for judgment, as the following statement makes clear. A Moabite cognate occurs in the Mesha inscription, where it is used of the Moabite god Chemosh’s anger at his people (see J. B. Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near East, 1:209).

[2:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “and you will perish [in the] way.” The Hebrew word דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) here refers to their rebellious behavior (not to a pathway, as often understood). It functions syntactically as an adverbial accusative in relation to the verb “perish.”

[2:12]  ⁹ tn Or “burns.” The Lord’s anger is compared here to fire, the most destructive force known in ancient Israel.

[2:12]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[2:12]  ¹¹ sn Who take shelter in him. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).

[21:8]  ¹² tn The king is now addressed. One could argue that the Lord is still being addressed, but v. 9 militates against this proposal, for there the Lord is mentioned in the third person and appears to be distinct from the addressee (unless, of course, one takes “Lord” in v. 9 as vocative; see the note on “them” in v. 9b). Verse 7 begins this transition to a new addressee by referring to both the king and the Lord in the third person (in vv. 1-6 the Lord is addressed and only the king referred to in the third person).

[21:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “your hand finds.” The idiom pictures the king grabbing hold of his enemies and defeating them (see 1 Sam 23:17). The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 8-12 may be translated with the future tense, as long as the future is understood as generalizing.

[21:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your right hand finds those who hate you.”

[21:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you make them like a furnace of fire.” Although many modern translations retain the literal Hebrew, the statement is elliptical. The point is not that he makes them like a furnace, but like an object burned in a furnace (cf. NEB, “at your coming you shall plunge them into a fiery furnace”).

[21:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “at the time of your face.” The “face” of the king here refers to his angry presence. See Lam 4:16.

[21:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the Lord, in his anger he swallows them, and fire devours them.” Some take “the Lord” as a vocative, in which case he is addressed in vv. 8-9a. But this makes the use of the third person in v. 9b rather awkward, though the king could be the subject (see vv. 1-7).

[21:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “fruit.” The next line makes it clear that offspring is in view.

[21:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “seed.”

[21:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “sons of man.”

[21:11]  ²¹ tn Or “for.”

[21:11]  ²² tn Heb “they extend against you harm.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 11 are taken as generalizing, stating factually what the king’s enemies typically do. Another option is to translate with the past tense (“they intended…planned”).

[21:11]  ²³ sn See Ps 10:2.

[21:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “they lack ability.”

[21:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “you make them a shoulder,” i.e., “you make them turn and run, showing the back of their neck and shoulders.”

[21:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “with your bowstrings you fix against their faces,” i.e., “you fix your arrows on the bowstrings to shoot at them.”

[40:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones seeking my life to snatch it away.”

[40:14]  ²⁸ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse (“may those…be…embarrassed and ashamed…may those…be turned back and ashamed”) are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies.

[40:15]  ²⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive in this imprecation.

[40:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “May they be humiliated according to their shame, those who say to me, ‘Aha! Aha!’”

[110:1]  ³¹ sn Psalm 110. In this royal psalm the psalmist announces God’s oracle to the Davidic king. The first part of the oracle appears in v. 1, the second in v. 4. In vv. 2-3 the psalmist addresses the king, while in vv. 5-7 he appears to address God.

[110:1]  ³² tn The word נְאֻם (nÿ’um) is used frequently in the OT of a formal divine announcement through a prophet.

[110:1]  ³³ sn My lord. In the psalm’s original context the speaker is an unidentified prophetic voice in the royal court. In the course of time the psalm is applied to each successive king in the dynasty and ultimately to the ideal Davidic king. NT references to the psalm understand David to be speaking about his “lord,” the Messiah. (See Matt 22:43-45; Mark 12:36-37; Luke 20:42-44; Acts 2:34-35).

[110:1]  ³⁴ tn To sit at the “right hand” of the king was an honor (see 1 Kgs 2:19). In Ugaritic myth (CTA 4 v. 108-10) the artisan god Kothar-and Khasis is described as sitting at the right hand of the storm god Baal. See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 61-62.

[110:1]  ³⁵ sn When the Lord made his covenant with David, he promised to subdue the king’s enemies (see 2 Sam 7:9-11; Ps 89:22-23).

[110:5]  ³⁶ tn As pointed in the Hebrew text, this title refers to God (many medieval Hebrew mss read יְהוָה, yehveh, “Lord” here). The present translation assumes that the psalmist here addresses the Lord as he celebrates what the king is able to accomplish while positioned at God’s “right hand.” According to this view the king is the subject of the third person verb forms in vv. 5b-7. (2) Another option is to understand the king as the addressee (as in vv. 2-3). In this case “the Lord” is the subject of the third person verbs throughout vv. 5-7 and is depicted as a warrior in a very anthropomorphic manner. In this case the Lord is pictured as being at the psalmist’s right hand (just the opposite of v. 1). See Pss 16:8; 121:5. (3) A third option is to revocalize אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”) as אֲדֹנִי (’adoniy, “my lord”; see v. 1). In this case one may translate, “My lord, at his [God’s] right hand, strikes down.” In this case the king is the subject of the third person verbs in vv. 5b-7.

[110:5]  ³⁷ tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 5-6 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing. Another option is to take them as rhetorical. In this case the psalmist describes anticipated events as if they had already taken place.

[110:5]  ³⁸ tn Heb “in the day of his anger.”

[110:6]  ³⁹ tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 6-7 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though they could be taken as future.

[110:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “among.”

[110:6]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he fills [with] corpses,” but one expects a double accusative here. The translation assumes an emendation to גְוִיּוֹת גֵאָיוֹת(בִּ) מִלֵּא or מִלֵּא גֵאָיוֹת גְּוִיוֹת (for a similar construction see Ezek 32:5). In the former case גֵאָיוֹת(ge’ayot) has accidentally dropped from the text due to homoioteleuton; in the latter case it has dropped out due to homoioarcton.

[110:6]  ⁴² tn Heb “he strikes [the verb is מָחַץ (makhats), translated “strikes down” in v. 5] head[s] over a great land.” The Hebrew term רַבָּה (rabbah, “great”) is here used of distance or spatial measurement (see 1 Sam 26:13).

[110:2]  ⁴³ tn Since the Lord is mentioned in the third person (note the use of the first person in v. 1), it is likely that these are the psalmist’s words to the king, not a continuation of the oracle per se.

[110:2]  ⁴⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though it could be taken as future.

[110:2]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “your strong scepter,” symbolic of the king’s royal authority and dominion.

[17:1]  ⁴⁶ sn Psalm 17. The psalmist asks God to intervene on his behalf because his life is threatened by dangerous enemies. He appeals to divine justice, for he is certain of his own innocence. Because he is innocent, he expects to encounter God and receive an assuring word.

[17:1]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “hear, Lord, what is just.”

[17:1]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “Listen to my prayer, [made] without lips of deceit.”

[18:32]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “the God.” The prefixed article emphasizes the Lord’s distinctiveness as the one true God (cf. Deut 33:26). See v. 30.

[18:32]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “is the one who clothes.” For similar language see 1 Sam 2:4; Pss 65:6; 93:1. The psalmist employs a generalizing hymnic style in vv. 32-34; he uses participles in vv. 32a, 33a, and 34a to describe what God characteristically does on his behalf.

[18:32]  ⁵¹ tn 2 Sam 22:33 reads, “the God is my strong refuge.”

[18:32]  ⁵² tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries along the generalizing force of the preceding participle.

[18:32]  ⁵³ tn Heb “he made my path smooth.” The Hebrew term תָּמִים (tamim, “smooth”) usually carries a moral or ethical connotation, “blameless, innocent.” However, in Ps 18:33 it refers to a pathway free of obstacles. The reality underlying the metaphor is the psalmist’s ability to charge into battle without tripping (see vv. 33, 36).

[18:1]  ⁵⁴ sn Psalm 18. In this long song of thanks, the psalmist (a Davidic king, traditionally understood as David himself) affirms that God is his faithful protector. He recalls in highly poetic fashion how God intervened in awesome power and delivered him from death. The psalmist’s experience demonstrates that God vindicates those who are blameless and remain loyal to him. True to his promises, God gives the king victory on the battlefield and enables him to subdue nations. A parallel version of the psalm appears in 2 Sam 22:1-51.

[18:1]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “spoke.”

[18:1]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “in the day,” or “at the time.”

[18:1]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “hand.”

[18:1]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “and from the hand of Saul.”

[18:1]  ⁵⁹ tn A number of translations (e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV) assign the words “he said” to the superscription, in which case the entire psalm is in first person. Other translations (e.g., NAB) include the introductory “he said” at the beginning of v. 1.

[18:1]  ⁶⁰ tn The verb רָחַם (rakham) elsewhere appears in the Piel (or Pual) verbal stem with the basic meaning, “have compassion.” The verb occurs only here in the basic (Qal) stem. The basic stem of the verbal root also occurs in Aramaic with the meaning “love” (see DNWSI 2:1068-69; Jastrow 1467 s.v. רָחַם; G. Schmuttermayr, “rhm: eine lexikalische Studie,” Bib 51 [1970]: 515-21). Since this introductory statement does not appear in the parallel version in 2 Sam 22:1-51, it is possible that it is a later addition to the psalm, made when the poem was revised for use in worship.

[18:1]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “my strength.” “Strength” is metonymic here, referring to the Lord as the one who bestows strength to the psalmist; thus the translation “my source of strength.”

[2:1]  ⁶² sn Psalm 2. In this royal psalm the author asserts the special status of the divinely chosen Davidic king and warns the nations and their rulers to submit to the authority of God and his chosen vice-regent.

[2:1]  ⁶³ tn The question is rhetorical. Rather than seeking information, the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would have the audacity to rebel against God and his chosen king.

[2:1]  ⁶⁴ tn The Hebrew verb רָגַשׁ (ragash) occurs only here. In Dan 6:6, 11, 15 the Aramaic cognate verb describes several officials acting as a group. A Hebrew nominal derivative is used in Ps 55:14 of a crowd of people in the temple.

[2:1]  ⁶⁵ tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[2:1]  ⁶⁶ tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).

[2:1]  ⁶⁷ tn The Hebrew imperfect form describes the rebellion as underway. The verb הָגָה (hagah), which means “to recite quietly, meditate,” here has the metonymic nuance “devise, plan, plot” (see Ps 38:12; Prov 24:2).

[2:1]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “devising emptiness.” The noun רִיק (riq, “emptiness”) may characterize their behavior as “worthless, morally bankrupt” but more likely refers to the outcome of their plots (i.e., failure). As the rest of the psalm emphasizes, their rebellion will fail.

[19:27]  ⁶⁹ tn Grk “to rule over them.”

[19:27]  ⁷⁰ tn This term, when used of people rather than animals, has some connotations of violence and mercilessness (L&N 20.72).

[19:27]  ⁷¹ sn Slaughter them. To reject the king is to face certain judgment from him.

[19:1]  ⁷² tn Grk “And entering, he passed through”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[19:1]  ⁷³ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[2:15]  ⁷⁴ tn Grk “And it happened that when.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[2:15]  ⁷⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[2:15]  ⁷⁶ sn Note how although angels delivered the message, it was the Lord whose message is made known, coming through them.

[2:16]  ⁷⁷ tn Or “a feeding trough.”