Psalms 73:15

73:15 If I had publicized these thoughts, ¹ 

I would have betrayed your loyal followers. ² 

Psalms 147:13

147:13 For he makes the bars of your gates strong.

He blesses your children ³  within you.

Psalms 45:16

45:16 Your ⁴  sons will carry ⁵  on the dynasty of your ancestors; ⁶ 

you will make them princes throughout the land.

Psalms 128:3

128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine ⁷ 

in the inner rooms of your house;

your children ⁸  will be like olive branches,

as they sit all around your table.

Psalms 132:12

132:12 If your sons keep my covenant

and the rules I teach them,

their sons will also sit on your throne forever.”

[73:15]  ¹ tn Heb “If I had said, ‘I will speak out like this.’”

[73:15]  ² tn Heb “look, the generation of your sons I would have betrayed.” The phrase “generation of your [i.e., God’s] sons” occurs only here in the OT. Some equate the phrase with “generation of the godly” (Ps 14:5), “generation of the ones seeking him” (Ps 24:6), and “generation of the upright” (Ps 112:2). In Deut 14:1 the Israelites are referred to as God’s “sons.” Perhaps the psalmist refers here to those who are “Israelites” in the true sense because of their loyalty to God (note the juxtaposition of “Israel” with “the pure in heart” in v. 1).

[147:13]  ³ tn Heb “your sons.”

[45:16]  ⁵ tn The pronoun is second masculine singular, indicating the king is being addressed from this point to the end of the psalm.

[45:16]  ⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as jussive and the statement interpreted as a prayer, “May your sons carry on the dynasty of your ancestors!” The next line could then be taken as a relative clause, “[your sons] whom you will make princes throughout the land.”

[45:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “in place of your fathers will be your sons.”

[128:3]  ⁷ sn The metaphor of the fruitful vine pictures the wife as fertile; she will give her husband numerous children (see the next line).

[128:3]  ⁸ tn One could translate “sons” (see Ps 127:3 and the note on the word “sons” there), but here the term seems to refer more generally to children of both genders.