Psalms 21:8

21:8 You ¹  prevail over ²  all your enemies;

your power is too great for those who hate you. ³ 

Psalms 110:2

110:2 The Lord ⁴  extends ⁵  your dominion ⁶  from Zion.

Rule in the midst of your enemies!

[21:8]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “your right hand finds those who hate you.”

[110:2]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though it could be taken as future.

[110:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “your strong scepter,” symbolic of the king’s royal authority and dominion.