Psalms 75:6-7

75:6 For victory does not come from the east or west,

or from the wilderness. ¹ 

75:7 For God is the judge! ² 

He brings one down and exalts another. ³ 

Psalms 113:7-8

113:7 He raises the poor from the dirt,

and lifts up the needy from the garbage pile, ⁴ 

113:8 that he might seat him with princes,

with the princes of his people.

Psalms 113:1

Psalm 113 ⁵ 

113:1 Praise the Lord!

Praise, you servants of the Lord,

praise the name of the Lord!

Psalms 2:7-8

2:7 The king says, ⁶  “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ⁷ 

‘You are my son! ⁸  This very day I have become your father!

2:8 Ask me,

and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, ⁹ 

the ends of the earth as your personal property.

Jeremiah 27:5-6

27:5 “I made the earth and the people and animals on it by my mighty power and great strength, ¹⁰  and I give it to whomever I see fit. ¹¹  27:6 I have at this time placed all these nations of yours under the power ¹²  of my servant, ¹³  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made all the wild animals subject to him. ¹⁴ 

[75:6]  ¹ tn Heb “for not from the east or from the west, and not from the wilderness of the mountains.” If one follows this reading the sentence is elliptical. One must supply “does help come,” or some comparable statement. However, it is possible to take הָרִים (harim) as a Hiphil infinitive from רוּם (rum), the same verb used in vv. 4-5 of “lifting up” a horn. In this case one may translate the form as “victory.” In this case the point is that victory does not come from alliances with other nations.

[75:7]  ² tn Or “judges.”

[75:7]  ³ tn The imperfects here emphasize the generalizing nature of the statement.

[113:7]  ⁴ sn The language of v. 7 is almost identical to that of 1 Sam 2:8.

[113:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 113. The psalmist praises God as the sovereign king of the world who reaches down to help the needy.

[2:7]  ⁶ tn The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.

[2:7]  ⁷ tn Or “I will relate the decree. The Lord said to me” (in accordance with the Masoretic accentuation).

[2:7]  ⁸ sn ‘You are my son!’ The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26-27). 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.

[2:8]  ⁹ sn I will give you the nations. The Lord promises the Davidic king universal dominion.

[27:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “by my great power and my outstretched arm.” Again “arm” is symbolical for “strength.” Compare the similar expression in 21:5.

[27:5]  ¹¹ sn See Dan 4:17 for a similar statement.

[27:6]  ¹² tn Heb “have given…into the hand of.”

[27:6]  ¹³ sn See the study note on 25:9 for the significance of the application of this term to Nebuchadnezzar.

[27:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I have given…to him to serve him.” The verb “give” in this syntactical situation is functioning like the Hiphil stem, i.e., as a causative. See Dan 1:9 for parallel usage. For the usage of “serve” meaning “be subject to” compare 2 Sam 22:44 and BDB 713 s.v. עָבַד 3.