Psalms 27:10

27:10 Even if my father and mother abandoned me, ¹ 

the Lord would take me in. ² 

Psalms 68:5

68:5 He is a father to the fatherless

and an advocate for widows. ³ 

God rules from his holy palace. ⁴ 

Psalms 89:26

89:26 He will call out to me,

‘You are my father, ⁵  my God, and the protector who delivers me.’ ⁶ 

[27:10]  ¹ tn Or “though my father and mother have abandoned me.”

[27:10]  ² tn Heb “gather me in”; or “receive me.”

[68:5]  ³ sn God is depicted here as a just ruler. In the ancient Near Eastern world a king was responsible for promoting justice, including caring for the weak and vulnerable, epitomized by the fatherless and widows.

[68:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “God [is] in his holy dwelling place.” He occupies his throne and carries out his royal responsibilities.

[89:26]  ⁵ sn You are my father. The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[89:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “the rocky summit of my deliverance.”