Psalms 89:4

89:4 ‘I will give you an eternal dynasty ¹ 

and establish your throne throughout future generations.’” ²  (Selah)

Psalms 89:36

89:36 His dynasty will last forever. ³ 

His throne will endure before me, like the sun, ⁴ 

Psalms 132:11

132:11 The Lord made a reliable promise to David; ⁵ 

he will not go back on his word. ⁶ 

He said, ⁷  “I will place one of your descendants ⁸  on your throne.

Psalms 132:1

Psalm 132 ⁹ 

A song of ascents. ¹⁰ 

132:1 O Lord, for David’s sake remember

all his strenuous effort, ¹¹ 

Psalms 17:11-12

17:11 They attack me, now they surround me; ¹² 

they intend to throw me to the ground. ¹³ 

17:12 He ¹⁴  is like a lion ¹⁵  that wants to tear its prey to bits, ¹⁶ 

like a young lion crouching ¹⁷  in hidden places.

Isaiah 59:21

59:21 “As for me, this is my promise to ¹⁸  them,” says the Lord. “My spirit, who is upon you, and my words, which I have placed in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and descendants from this time forward,” ¹⁹  says the Lord.

Jeremiah 33:17-26

33:17 For I, the Lord, promise: “David will never lack a successor to occupy ²⁰  the throne over the nation of Israel. ²¹  33:18 Nor will the Levitical priests ever lack someone to stand before me and continually offer up burnt offerings, sacrifice cereal offerings, and offer the other sacrifices.”’” ²² 

33:19 The Lord spoke further to Jeremiah. ²³  33:20 “I, Lord, make the following promise: ²⁴  ‘I have made a covenant with the day ²⁵  and with the night that they will always come at their proper times. Only if you people ²⁶  could break that covenant 33:21 could my covenant with my servant David and my covenant with the Levites ever be broken. So David will by all means always have a descendant to occupy his throne as king and the Levites will by all means always have priests who will minister before me. ²⁷  33:22 I will make the children who follow one another in the line of my servant David very numerous. I will also make the Levites who minister before me very numerous. I will make them all as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sands which are on the seashore.’” ²⁸ 

33:23 The Lord spoke still further to Jeremiah. ²⁹  33:24 “You have surely noticed what these people are saying, haven’t you? They are saying, ³⁰  ‘The Lord has rejected the two families of Israel and Judah ³¹  that he chose.’ So they have little regard that my people will ever again be a nation. ³²  33:25 But I, the Lord, make the following promise: ³³  I have made a covenant governing the coming of day and night. I have established the fixed laws governing heaven and earth. 33:26 Just as surely as I have done this, so surely will I never reject the descendants of Jacob. Nor will I ever refuse to choose one of my servant David’s descendants to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed, ³⁴  I will restore them ³⁵  and show mercy to them.”

[89:4]  ¹ tn Heb “forever I will establish your offspring.”

[89:4]  ² tn Heb “and I will build to a generation and a generation your throne.”

[89:36]  ³ tn Heb “his offspring forever will be.”

[89:36]  ⁴ tn Heb “and his throne like the sun before me.”

[132:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord swore an oath to David [in] truth.”

[132:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “he will not turn back from it.”

[132:11]  ⁷ tn The words “he said” are supplied in the translation to clarify that what follows are the Lord’s words.

[132:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “the fruit of your body.”

[132:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 132. The psalmist reminds God of David’s devotion and of his promises concerning David’s dynasty and Zion.

[132:1]  ¹⁰ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[132:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all his affliction.” This may refer to David’s strenuous and tireless efforts to make provision for the building of the temple (see 1 Chr 22:14). Some prefer to revocalize the text as עַנַוָתוֹ (’anavato, “his humility”).

[17:11]  ¹² tc Heb “our steps, now they surround me.” The Kethib (consonantal text) has “surround me,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has “surround us,” harmonizing the pronoun to the preceding “our steps.” The first person plural pronoun does not fit the context, where the psalmist speaks as an individual. In the preceding verses the psalmist uses a first person singular verbal or pronominal form twenty times. For this reason it is preferable to emend “our steps” to אִשְּׁרוּנִי (’ishÿruni, “they attack me”) from the verbal root אָשֻׁר (’ashur, “march, stride, track”).

[17:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “their eyes they set to bend down in the ground.”

[17:12]  ¹⁴ tn Here the psalmist switches to the singular pronoun; he views his enemies collectively, or singles out a representative of the group, perhaps its leader.

[17:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his likeness [is] like a lion.”

[17:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[that] longs to tear.”

[17:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “sitting.”

[59:21]  ¹⁸ tn Or “my covenant with” (so many English versions); NCV “my agreement with.”

[59:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from now and on into the future.”

[33:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a man shall not be cut off to David [i.e., belonging to the Davidic line] sitting on the throne of the house of Israel.”

[33:17]  ²¹ sn It should be noted once again that the reference is to all Israel, not just to Judah (cf. Jer 23:5-6; 30:9).

[33:18]  ²² tn Heb “And to the Levites, the priests [= the Levitical priests, the apposition in place of the adjective] there shall not be cut off a man from before me who offers up burnt offering, sacrifices a cereal offering, or makes a sacrifice all the days.”

[33:19]  ²³ tn Heb “And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying.” See v. 1. This is a continuation of “the second time.”

[33:20]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.” However, the Lord is speaking so the first person introduction has again been adopted. The content of the verse shows that it is a promise to David (vv. 21-22) and the Levites based on a contrary to fact condition (v. 20). See further the translator’s note at the end of the next verse for explanation of the English structure adopted here.

[33:20]  ²⁵ tn The word יוֹמָם (yomam) is normally an adverb meaning “daytime, by day, daily.” However, here and in v. 25 and in Jer 15:9 it means “day, daytime” (cf. BDB 401 s.v. יוֹמָם 1).

[33:20]  ²⁶ tn Heb “you.” The pronoun is plural as in 32:36, 43; 33:10.

[33:21]  ²⁷ tn The very complex and elliptical syntax of the original Hebrew of vv. 20-21 has been broken down to better conform with contemporary English style. The text reads somewhat literally (after the addition of a couple of phrases which have been left out by ellipsis): “Thus says the Lord, ‘If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night so that there is not to be daytime and night in their proper time then also my covenant can be broken with my servant David so that there is not to him a son reigning upon his throne [and also my covenant can be broken] with the Levites [so there are not] priests who minister to me.” The two phrases in brackets are elliptical, the first serving double duty for the prepositional phrase “with the Levites” as well as “with David” and the second serving double duty with the noun “priests” which parallels “a son.” The noun “priests” is not serving here as appositional because that phrase is always “the priests, the Levites,” never “the Levites, the priests.”

[33:22]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Just as the stars in the sky cannot be numbered or the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so I will greatly increase [or multiply] the seed of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.” The word “seed of” does not carry over to the “the Levites” as a noun governing two genitives because “the Levites” has the accusative marker in front of it. The sentence has been broken down in conformity with contemporary English style.

[33:23]  ²⁹ tn Heb “And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying.” See v. 1. This is a continuation of “the second time.”

[33:24]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Have you not seen what this people have said, saying.” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer. The sentence has been broken in two to better conform with contemporary English style.

[33:24]  ³¹ tn Heb “The two families which the Lord chose, he has rejected them.” This is an example of an object prepositioned before the verb and resumed by a redundant pronoun to throw emphasis of focus on it (called casus pendens in the grammars; cf. GKC 458 §143.d). Some commentators identify the “two families” as those of David and Levi mentioned in the previous verses, and some identify them as the families of the Israelites and of David mentioned in the next verse. However, the next clause in this verse and the emphasis on the restoration and regathering of Israel and Judah in this section (cf. 33:7, 14) show that the reference is to Israel and Judah (see also 30:3, 4; 31:27, 31 and 3:18).

[33:24]  ³² tn Heb “and my people [i.e., Israel and Judah] they disdain [or look down on] from being again a nation before them.” The phrase “before them” refers to their estimation, their mental view (cf. BDB s.v. פָּנֶה II.4.a[g]). Hence it means they look with disdain on the people being a nation again (cf. BDB s.v. עוֹד 1.a[b] for the usage of עוֹד [’od] here).

[33:25]  ³³ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.” See the translator’s note at the beginning of v. 20 for the style adopted here. Here the promise is in v. 26 following the contrary to fact condition in v. 25. The Hebrew text of vv. 25-26 reads: “Thus says the Lord, “If I have not established my covenant with day and night [and] the laws/statutes of heaven and earth, also I could reject the seed of Jacob and David my servant from taking from his seed as rulers over the seed of Abraham…” The syntax of the original is a little awkward because it involves the verbs “establish” and “reject” governing two objects, the first governing two similar objects “my covenant” and “the regulations” and the second governing two dissimilar objects “the seed of Jacob” and “my servant David from taking [so as not to take].” The translation has sought to remove these awkward syntactical constructions and also break down the long complex original sentence in such a way as to retain its original intent, i.e., the guarantee of the continuance of the seed of Jacob and of the rule of a line of David’s descendants over them based on the fixed order of God’s creation decrees.

[33:26]  ³⁴ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is probably intensive here as it has been on a number of occasions in the book of Jeremiah (see BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e for the category).

[33:26]  ³⁵ tn Or “I will make them prosperous once again,” or “I will bring them back from captivity.”