Psalms 78:64

78:64 Their ¹  priests fell by the sword,

but their ²  widows did not weep. ³ 

Psalms 132:9

132:9 May your priests be clothed with integrity! ⁴ 

May your loyal followers shout for joy!

Psalms 132:16

132:16 I will protect her priests, ⁵ 

and her godly people will shout exuberantly. ⁶ 

Psalms 99:6

99:6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests;

Samuel was one of those who prayed to him. ⁷ 

They ⁸  prayed to the Lord and he answered them.

Psalms 110:4

110:4 The Lord makes this promise on oath ⁹  and will not revoke it: ¹⁰ 

“You are an eternal priest ¹¹  after the pattern of ¹²  Melchizedek.” ¹³ 

[78:64]  ¹ tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).

[78:64]  ² tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).

[78:64]  ³ sn Because of the invading army and the ensuing panic, the priests’ widows had no time to carry out the normal mourning rites.

[132:9]  ⁴ tn Or “righteousness.”

[132:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “and her priests I will clothe [with] deliverance.”

[132:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “[with] shouting they will shout.” The infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the verb.

[99:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “among those who called on his name.”

[99:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “those who.” The participle is in apposition to the phrase “those who called on his name” in the preceding line.

[110:4]  ¹³ tn Or “swears, vows.”

[110:4]  ¹⁴ tn Or “will not change his mind.” The negated Niphal imperfect of נָחַם (nakham) is a way of marking an announcement as an irrevocable decree. See 1 Sam 15:29; Ezek 24:14, as well as R. B. Chisholm, “Does God ‘Change His Mind’?” BSac 152 (1995): 387-99.

[110:4]  ¹⁵ sn You are an eternal priest. The Davidic king exercised a non-Levitical priestly role. The king superintended Judah’s cultic ritual, had authority over the Levites, and sometimes led in formal worship. David himself instructed the Levites to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem (1 Chr 15:11-15), joined the procession, offered sacrifices, wore a priestly ephod, and blessed the people (2 Sam 6:12-19). At the dedication of the temple Solomon led the ceremony, offering sacrifices and praying on behalf of the people (1 Kgs 8).

[110:4]  ¹⁶ tn The phrase עַל־דִּבְרָתִי (’al-divratiy) is a variant of עַל־דִּבְרָת (’al-divrat; the final yod [י] being an archaic genitival ending), which in turn is a variant of עַל דָּבַר (’al davar). Both phrases can mean “concerning” or “because of,” but neither of these nuances fits the use of עַל־דִּבְרָתִי in Ps 110:4. Here the phrase probably carries the sense “according to the manner of.” See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 81.

[110:4]  ¹⁷ sn The Davidic king’s priestly role is analogous to that of Melchizedek, who was both “king of Salem” (i.e., Jerusalem) and a “priest of God Most High” in the time of Abraham (Gen 14:18-20). Like Melchizedek, the Davidic king was a royal priest, distinct from the Aaronic line (see Heb 7). The analogy focuses on the king’s priestly role; the language need not imply that Melchizedek himself was “an eternal priest.”