Psalms 89:3-4

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:

89:4 ‘I will give you an eternal dynasty ² 

and establish your throne throughout future generations.’” ³  (Selah)

Psalms 89:35

89:35 Once and for all I have vowed by my own holiness,

I will never deceive ⁴  David.

Psalms 54:5

54:5 May those who wait to ambush me ⁵  be repaid for their evil! ⁶ 

As a demonstration of your faithfulness, ⁷  destroy them!

Psalms 132:11-12

132:11 The Lord made a reliable promise to David; ⁸ 

he will not go back on his word. ⁹ 

He said, ¹⁰  “I will place one of your descendants ¹¹  on your throne.

132:12 If your sons keep my covenant

and the rules I teach them,

their sons will also sit on your throne forever.”

Psalms 132:2

132:2 and how he made a vow to the Lord,

and swore an oath to the powerful ruler of Jacob. ¹² 

Psalms 3:1

Psalm 3 ¹³ 

A psalm of David, written when he fled from his son Absalom. ¹⁴ 

3:1 Lord, how ¹⁵  numerous are my enemies!

Many attack me. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 7:15

7:15 he digs a pit ¹⁷ 

and then falls into the hole he has made. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 55:3

55:3 Pay attention and come to me!

Listen, so you can live! ¹⁹ 

Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to ²⁰  you,

just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. ²¹ 

Hebrews 7:21

7:21 but Jesus ²²  did so ²³  with a sworn affirmation by the one who said to him, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever’” ²⁴  –

[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.

[89:4]  ² tn Heb “forever I will establish your offspring.”

[89:4]  ³ tn Heb “and I will build to a generation and a generation your throne.”

[89:35]  ⁴ tn Or “lie to.”

[54:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “to those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 56:2.

[54:5]  ⁶ tn The Kethib (consonantal text) reads a Qal imperfect, “the evil will return,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has a Hiphil imperfect, “he will repay.” The parallel line has an imperative (indicating a prayer/request), so it is best to read a jussive form יָשֹׁב (yashov, “let it [the evil] return”) here.

[54:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “in [or “by”] your faithfulness.”

[132:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “the Lord swore an oath to David [in] truth.”

[132:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “he will not turn back from it.”

[132:11]  ¹⁰ tn The words “he said” are supplied in the translation to clarify that what follows are the Lord’s words.

[132:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the fruit of your body.”

[132:2]  ¹² tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.”

[3:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 3. The psalmist acknowledges that he is confronted by many enemies (vv. 1-2). But, alluding to a divine oracle he has received (vv. 4-5), he affirms his confidence in God’s ability to protect him (vv. 3, 6) and requests that God make his promise a reality (vv. 7-8).

[3:1]  ¹⁴ sn According to Jewish tradition, David offered this prayer when he was forced to flee from Jerusalem during his son Absalom’s attempted coup (see 2 Sam 15:13-17).

[3:1]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew term מָה (mah, “how”) is used here as an adverbial exclamation (see BDB 553 s.v.).

[3:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “many rise up against me.”

[7:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a pit he digs and he excavates it.” Apparently the imagery of hunting is employed; the wicked sinner digs this pit to entrap and destroy his intended victim. The redundancy in the Hebrew text has been simplified in the translation.

[7:15]  ¹⁸ tn The verb forms in vv. 15-16 describe the typical behavior and destiny of those who attempt to destroy others. The image of the evildoer falling into the very trap he set for his intended victim emphasizes the appropriate nature of God’s judgment.

[55:3]  ¹⁹ tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.

[55:3]  ²⁰ tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”

[55:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “the reliable expressions of loyalty of David.” The syntactical relationship of חַסְדֵי (khasde, “expressions of loyalty”) to the preceding line is unclear. If the term is appositional to בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”), then the Lord here transfers the promises of the Davidic covenant to the entire nation. Another option is to take חַסְדֵי (khasde) as an adverbial accusative and to translate “according to the reliable covenantal promises.” In this case the new covenantal arrangement proposed here is viewed as an extension or perhaps fulfillment of the Davidic promises. A third option, the one reflected in the above translation, is to take the last line as comparative. In this case the new covenant being proposed is analogous to the Davidic covenant. Verses 4-5, which compare David’s international prominence to what Israel will experience, favors this view. In all three of these interpretations, “David” is an objective genitive; he is the recipient of covenantal promises. A fourth option would be to take David as a subjective genitive and understand the line as giving the basis for the preceding promise: “Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, because of David’s faithful acts of covenantal loyalty.”

[7:21]  ²² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:21]  ²³ tn The words “did so” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[7:21]  ²⁴ sn A quotation from Ps 110:4 (see Heb 5:6, 6:20, and 7:17).