Psalms 72:1-4

Psalm 72 ¹ 

For ²  Solomon.

72:1 O God, grant the king the ability to make just decisions! ³ 

Grant the king’s son ⁴  the ability to make fair decisions! ⁵ 

72:2 Then he will judge ⁶  your people fairly,

and your oppressed ones ⁷  equitably.

72:3 The mountains will bring news of peace to the people,

and the hills will announce justice. ⁸ 

72:4 He will defend ⁹  the oppressed among the people;

he will deliver ¹⁰  the children ¹¹  of the poor

and crush the oppressor.

Deuteronomy 16:18-19

Provision for Justice

16:18 You must appoint judges and civil servants ¹²  for each tribe in all your villages ¹³  that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. ¹⁴  16:19 You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort ¹⁵  the words of the righteous. ¹⁶ 

Deuteronomy 16:2

16:2 You must sacrifice the Passover animal ¹⁷  (from the flock or the herd) to the Lord your God in the place where he ¹⁸  chooses to locate his name.

Deuteronomy 23:3

23:3 An Ammonite or Moabite ¹⁹  may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation none of their descendants shall ever ²⁰  do so, ²¹ 

Deuteronomy 23:2

23:2 A person of illegitimate birth ²²  may not enter the assembly of the Lord; to the tenth generation no one related to him may do so. ²³ 

Deuteronomy 19:6-7

19:6 Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger, eventually overtake him, ²⁴  and kill him, ²⁵  though this is not a capital case ²⁶  since he did not hate him at the time of the accident. 19:7 Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

Isaiah 11:3-5

11:3 He will take delight in obeying the Lord. ²⁷ 

He will not judge by mere appearances, ²⁸ 

or make decisions on the basis of hearsay. ²⁹ 

11:4 He will treat the poor fairly, ³⁰ 

and make right decisions ³¹  for the downtrodden of the earth. ³² 

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, ³³ 

and order the wicked to be executed. ³⁴ 

11:5 Justice will be like a belt around his waist,

integrity will be like a belt around his hips. ³⁵ 

Isaiah 32:1

Justice and Wisdom Will Prevail

32:1 Look, a king will promote fairness; ³⁶ 

officials will promote justice. ³⁷ 

Jeremiah 23:5-6

23:5 “I, the Lord, promise ³⁸  that a new time will certainly come ³⁹ 

when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, ⁴⁰  a descendant of David.

He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding ⁴¹ 

and will do what is just and right in the land. ⁴² 

23:6 Under his rule ⁴³  Judah will enjoy safety ⁴⁴ 

and Israel will live in security. ⁴⁵ 

This is the name he will go by:

‘The Lord has provided us with justice.’ ⁴⁶ 

[72:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 72. This royal psalm contains a prayer for the Davidic king (note the imperatival form in v. 1 and the jussive forms in vv. 16-17). It is not entirely clear if vv. 2-15 express a prayer or anticipate a future reign. The translation assumes a blend of petition and vision: (I) opening prayer (v. 1), followed by anticipated results if prayer is answered (vv. 2-7); (II) prayer (v. 8), followed by anticipated results if prayer is answered (vv. 9-14); (III) closing prayer (vv. 15-17). Whether a prayer, vision, or combination of the two, the psalm depicts the king’s universal rule of peace and prosperity. As such it is indirectly messianic, for the ideal it expresses will only be fully realized during the Messiah’s earthly reign. Verses 18-19 are a conclusion for Book 2 of the Psalter (Pss 42-72; cf. Ps 41:13, which contains a similar conclusion for Book 1), while v. 20 appears to be a remnant of an earlier collection of psalms or an earlier edition of the Psalter.

[72:1]  ² tn The preposition could be understood as indicating authorship (“Of Solomon”), but since the psalm is a prayer for a king, it may be that the superscription reflects a tradition that understood this as a prayer for Solomon.

[72:1]  ³ tn Heb “O God, your judgments to [the] king give.”

[72:1]  ⁴ sn Grant the king…Grant the king’s son. It is not entirely clear whether v. 1 envisions one individual or two. The phrase “the king’s son” in the second line may simply refer to “the king” of the first line, drawing attention to the fact that he has inherited his dynastic rule. Another option is that v. 1 envisions a co-regency between father and son (a common phenomenon in ancient Israel) or simply expresses a hope for a dynasty that champions justice.

[72:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “and your justice to [the] son of [the] king.”

[72:2]  ⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:2]  ⁷ sn These people are called God’s oppressed ones because he is their defender (see Pss 9:12, 18; 10:12; 12:5).

[72:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “[the] mountains will bear peace to the people, and [the] hills with justice.” The personified mountains and hills probably represent messengers who will sweep over the land announcing the king’s just decrees and policies. See Isa 52:7 and C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 2:133.

[72:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “judge [for].”

[72:4]  ¹⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “sons.”

[16:18]  ¹² tn The Hebrew term וְשֹׁטְרִים (vÿshoterim), usually translated “officers” (KJV, NCV) or “officials” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), derives from the verb שֹׁטֵר (shoter, “to write”). The noun became generic for all types of public officials. Here, however, it may be appositionally epexegetical to “judges,” thus resulting in the phrase, “judges, that is, civil officers,” etc. Whoever the שֹׁטְרִים are, their task here consists of rendering judgments and administering justice.

[16:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “gates.”

[16:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”

[16:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “twist, overturn”; NRSV “subverts the cause.”

[16:19]  ¹⁶ tn Or “innocent”; NRSV “those who are in the right”; NLT “the godly.”

[16:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “sacrifice the Passover” (so NASB). The word “animal” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[16:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in the previous verse.

[23:3]  ¹⁹ sn An Ammonite or Moabite. These descendants of Lot by his two daughters (cf. Gen 19:30-38) were thereby the products of incest and therefore excluded from the worshiping community. However, these two nations also failed to show proper hospitality to Israel on their way to Canaan (v. 4).

[23:3]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew term translated “ever” (עַד־עוֹלָם, ’ad-’olam) suggests that “tenth generation” (vv. 2, 3) also means “forever.” However, in the OT sense “forever” means not “for eternity” but for an indeterminate future time. See A. Tomasino, NIDOTTE 3:346.

[23:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “enter the assembly of the Lord.” The phrase “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[23:2]  ²² tn Or “a person born of an illegitimate marriage.”

[23:2]  ²³ tn Heb “enter the assembly of the Lord.” The phrase “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[19:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and overtake him, for the road is long.”

[19:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “smite with respect to life,” that is, fatally.

[19:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “no judgment of death.”

[11:3]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “and his smelling is in the fear of the Lord.” In Amos 5:21 the Hiphil of רוּחַ (ruakh, “smell”) carries the nuance of “smell with delight, get pleasure from.” There the Lord declares that he does not “smell with delight” (i.e., get pleasure from) Israel’s religious assemblies, which probably stand by metonymy for the incense offered during these festivals. In Isa 11:3 there is no sacrificial context to suggest such a use, but it is possible that “the fear of the Lord” is likened to incense. This coming king will get the same kind of delight from obeying (fearing) the Lord, as a deity does in the incense offered by worshipers. Some regard such an explanation as strained in this context, and prefer to omit this line from the text as a virtual dittograph of the preceding statement.

[11:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “by what appears to his eyes”; KJV “after the sight of his eyes”; NIV “by what he sees with his eyes.”

[11:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “by what is heard by his ears”; NRSV “by what his ears hear.”

[11:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “with justice” (so NAB) or “with righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[11:4]  ³¹ tn Heb “make decisions with rectitude”; cf. ASV, NRSV “and decide with equity.”

[11:4]  ³² tn Or “land” (NAB, NCV, CEV). It is uncertain if the passage is picturing universal dominion or focusing on the king’s rule over his covenant people. The reference to God’s “holy mountain” in v. 9 and the description of renewed Israelite conquests in v. 14 suggest the latter, though v. 10 seems to refer to a universal kingdom (see 2:2-4).

[11:4]  ³³ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he will strike the earth with the scepter of his mouth.” Some have suggested that in this context אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) as an object of judgment seems too broad in scope. The parallelism is tighter if one emends the word to ץ(י)עָרִ (’arits, “potentate, tyrant”). The phrase “scepter of his mouth” refers to the royal (note “scepter”) decrees that he proclaims with his mouth. Because these decrees will have authority and power (see v. 2) behind them, they can be described as “striking” the tyrants down. Nevertheless, the MT reading may not need emending. Isaiah refers to the entire “earth” as the object of God’s judgment in several places without specifying the wicked as the object of the judgment (Isa 24:17-21; 26:9, 21; 28:22; cf. 13:11).

[11:4]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.” The “breath of his lips” refers to his speech, specifically in this context his official decrees that the wicked oppressors be eliminated from his realm. See the preceding note.

[11:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Justice will be the belt [or “undergarment”] on his waist, integrity the belt [or “undergarment”] on his hips.” The point of the metaphor is uncertain. If a belt worn outside the robe is in view, then the point might be that justice/integrity will be readily visible or that these qualities will give support to his rule. If an undergarment is in view, then the idea might be that these characteristics support his rule or that they are basic to everything else.

[32:1]  ³⁶ tn Heb “will reign according to fairness.”

[32:1]  ³⁷ tn Heb “will rule according to justice.”

[23:5]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[23:5]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Behold the days are coming.”

[23:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “a righteous sprig to David” or “a righteous shoot” (NAB).

[23:5]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he will reign as king and act wisely.” This is another example of the use of two verbs joined by “and” where one becomes the adverbial modifier of the other (hendiadys). For the nuance of the verb “act wisely” rather than “prosper” see Amos 5:13; Ps 2:10 (cf. BDB 968 s.v. שָׂכַל Hiph.5).

[23:5]  ⁴² sn This has been the constant emphasis in this section. See 22:3 for the demand, 22:15 for its fulfillment, and 22:13 for its abuse. The ideal king would follow in the footsteps of his illustrious ancestor David (2 Sam 8:15) who set this forth as an ideal for his dynasty (2 Sam 23:3) and prayed for it to be true of his son Solomon (Ps 72:1-2).

[23:6]  ⁴³ tn Heb “In his days [= during the time he rules].”

[23:6]  ⁴⁴ tn Parallelism and context (cf. v. 4) suggest this nuance for the word often translated “be saved.” For this nuance elsewhere see Ps 119:117; Prov 28:18 for the verb (יָשַׁע [yasha’] in the Niphal); and Ps 12:6; Job 5:4, 11 for the related noun (יֶשַׁע, yesha’).

[23:6]  ⁴⁵ sn It should be noted that this brief oracle of deliverance implies the reunification of Israel and Judah under the future Davidic ruler. Jeremiah has already spoken about this reunification earlier in 3:18 and will have more to say about it in 30:3; 31:27, 31. This same ideal was espoused in the prophecies of Hosea (1:10-11 [2:1-2 HT]), Isaiah (11:1-4, 10-12), and Ezekiel (37:15-28) all of which have messianic and eschatological significance.

[23:6]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “his name will be called ‘The Lord our righteousness’.”