Psalms 89:3

89:3 The Lord said, ¹ 

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;

I have made a promise on oath to David, my servant:

Psalms 89:1

Psalm 89 ² 

A well-written song ³  by Ethan the Ezrachite.

89:1 I will sing continually ⁴  about the Lord’s faithful deeds;

to future generations I will proclaim your faithfulness. ⁵ 

Psalms 11:1

Psalm 11 ⁶ 

For the music director; by David.

11:1 In the Lord I have taken shelter. ⁷ 

How can you say to me, ⁸ 

“Flee to a mountain like a bird! ⁹ 

Philippians 2:6-11

2:6 ¹⁰ who though he existed in the form of God ¹¹ 

did not regard equality with God

as something to be grasped,

2:7 but emptied himself

by taking on the form of a slave, ¹² 

by looking like other men, ¹³ 

and by sharing in human nature. ¹⁴ 

2:8 He humbled himself,

by becoming obedient to the point of death

– even death on a cross!

2:9 As a result God exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

2:10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee will bow

– in heaven and on earth and under the earth –

2:11 and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord

to the glory of God the Father.

Hebrews 2:9-17

2:9 but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, ¹⁵  now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, ¹⁶  so that by God’s grace he would experience ¹⁷  death on behalf of everyone. 2:10 For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist, ¹⁸  in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer ¹⁹  of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 2:11 For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, ²⁰  and so ²¹  he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, ²²  2:12 saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers; ²³  in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” ²⁴  2:13 Again he says, ²⁵  “I will be confident in him,” and again, “Here I am, ²⁶  with ²⁷  the children God has given me.” ²⁸  2:14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in ²⁹  their humanity, ³⁰  so that through death he could destroy ³¹  the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), 2:15 and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death. 2:16 For surely his concern is not for angels, but he is concerned for Abraham’s descendants. 2:17 Therefore he had ³²  to be made like his brothers and sisters ³³  in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement ³⁴  for the sins of the people.

[89:3]  ¹ tn The words “the Lord said” are supplied in the translation for clarification. It is clear that the words of vv. 3-4 are spoken by the Lord, in contrast to vv. 1-2, which are spoken by the psalmist.

[89:1]  ² sn Psalm 89. The psalmist praises God as the sovereign creator of the world. He recalls God’s covenant with David, but then laments that the promises of the covenant remain unrealized. The covenant promised the Davidic king military victories, but the king has now been subjected to humiliating defeat.

[89:1]  ³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 88.

[89:1]  ⁴ tn Or “forever.”

[89:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “to a generation and a generation I will make known your faithfulness with my mouth.”

[11:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 11. The psalmist rejects the advice to flee from his dangerous enemies. Instead he affirms his confidence in God’s just character and calls down judgment on evildoers.

[11:1]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.

[11:1]  ⁸ tn The pronominal suffix attached to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is equivalent to a personal pronoun. See Ps 6:3.

[11:1]  ⁹ tc The MT is corrupt here. The Kethib (consonantal text) reads: “flee [masculine plural!] to your [masculine plural!] mountain, bird.” The Qere (marginal reading) has “flee” in a feminine singular form, agreeing grammatically with the addressee, the feminine noun “bird.” Rather than being a second masculine plural pronominal suffix, the ending כֶם- (-khem) attached to “mountain” is better interpreted as a second feminine singular pronominal suffix followed by an enclitic mem (ם). “Bird” may be taken as vocative (“O bird”) or as an adverbial accusative of manner (“like a bird”). Either way, the psalmist’s advisers compare him to a helpless bird whose only option in the face of danger is to fly away to an inaccessible place.

[2:6]  ¹⁰ sn This passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.

[2:6]  ¹¹ sn The Greek term translated form indicates a correspondence with reality. Thus the meaning of this phrase is that Christ was truly God.

[2:7]  ¹² tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 1:1.

[2:7]  ¹³ tn Grk “by coming in the likeness of people.”

[2:7]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and by being found in form as a man.” The versification of vv. 7 and 8 (so also NRSV) is according to the versification in the NA²⁷ and UBS⁴ editions of the Greek text. Some translations, however, break the verses in front of this phrase (NKJV, NASB, NIV, NLT). The same material has been translated in each case; the only difference is the versification of that material.

[2:9]  ¹⁵ tn Or “who was made a little lower than the angels.”

[2:9]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “because of the suffering of death.”

[2:9]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “would taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[2:10]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “for whom are all things and through whom are all things.”

[2:10]  ¹⁹ sn The Greek word translated pioneer is used of a “prince” or leader, the representative head of a family. It also carries nuances of “trailblazer,” one who breaks through to new ground for those who follow him. It is used some thirty-five times in the Greek OT and four times in the NT, always of Christ (Acts 3:15; 5:31; Heb 2:10; 12:2).

[2:11]  ²⁰ tn Grk “are all from one.”

[2:11]  ²¹ tn Grk “for which reason.”

[2:11]  ²² tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). The context here also indicates both men and women are in view; note especially the collective τὰ παιδία (ta paidia) in v. 14.

[2:12]  ²³ tn Here, because of its occurrence in an OT quotation, τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς (tois adelfois) has been translated simply as “brothers” rather than “brothers and sisters” (see the note on the latter phrase in the previous verse).

[2:12]  ²⁴ sn A quotation from Ps 22:22.

[2:13]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and again,” as a continuation of the preceding.

[2:13]  ²⁶ tn Grk “behold, I,” but this construction often means “here is/there is” (cf. BDAG 468 s.v. ἰδού 2).

[2:13]  ²⁷ tn Grk “and.”

[2:13]  ²⁸ sn A quotation from Isa 8:17-18.

[2:14]  ²⁹ tn Or “partook of” (this is a different word than the one in v. 14a).

[2:14]  ³⁰ tn Grk “the same.”

[2:14]  ³¹ tn Or “break the power of,” “reduce to nothing.”

[2:17]  ³² tn Or “he was obligated.”

[2:17]  ³³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.

[2:17]  ³⁴ tn Or “propitiation.”