Mazmur 10:16

10:16 The Lord rules forever! ¹ 

The nations are driven out of his land. ² 

Mazmur 45:6

45:6 Your throne, ³  O God, is permanent. ⁴ 

The scepter ⁵  of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.

Mazmur 90:2

90:2 Even before the mountains came into existence, ⁶ 

or you brought the world into being, ⁷ 

you were the eternal God. ⁸ 

Mazmur 93:2

93:2 Your throne has been secure from ancient times;

you have always been king. ⁹ 

Mazmur 102:24

102:24 I say, “O my God, please do not take me away in the middle of my life! ¹⁰ 

You endure through all generations. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 103:19

103:19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven;

his kingdom extends over everything. ¹² 

Mazmur 146:10

146:10 The Lord rules forever,

your God, O Zion, throughout the generations to come! ¹³ 

Praise the Lord!

[10:16]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord is king forever and ever.”

[10:16]  ² tn Or “the nations perish from his land.” The perfect verb form may express what is typical or it may express rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude that God’s deliverance is “as good as done.”

[10:16]  sn The nations may be the underlying reality behind the psalmist’s references to the “wicked” in the earlier verses. This reference to the nations may have motivated the combining of Ps 10 with Ps 9 (see Ps 9:5, 15, 19).

[45:6]  ³ sn The king’s throne here symbolizes his rule.

[45:6]  ⁴ tn Or “forever and ever.”

[45:6]  sn O God. The king is clearly the addressee here, as in vv. 2-5 and 7-9. Rather than taking the statement at face value, many prefer to emend the text because the concept of deifying the earthly king is foreign to ancient Israelite thinking (cf. NEB “your throne is like God’s throne, eternal”). However, it is preferable to retain the text and take this statement as another instance of the royal hyperbole that permeates the royal psalms. Because the Davidic king is God’s vice-regent on earth, the psalmist addresses him as if he were God incarnate. God energizes the king for battle and accomplishes justice through him. A similar use of hyperbole appears in Isa 9:6, where the ideal Davidic king of the eschaton is given the title “Mighty God” (see the note on this phrase there). Ancient Near Eastern art and literature picture gods training kings for battle, bestowing special weapons, and intervening in battle. According to Egyptian propaganda, the Hittites described Rameses II as follows: “No man is he who is among us, It is Seth great-of-strength, Baal in person; Not deeds of man are these his doings, They are of one who is unique” (see Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, 2:67). Ps 45:6 and Isa 9:6 probably envision a similar kind of response when friends and foes alike look at the Davidic king in full battle regalia. When the king’s enemies oppose him on the battlefield, they are, as it were, fighting against God himself.

[45:6]  ⁵ sn The king’s scepter symbolizes his royal authority.

[90:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “were born.”

[90:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “and you gave birth to the earth and world.” The Polel verbal form in the Hebrew text pictures God giving birth to the world. The LXX and some other ancient textual witnesses assume a polal (passive) verbal form here. In this case the earth becomes the subject of the verb and the verb is understood as third feminine singular rather than second masculine singular.

[90:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “and from everlasting to everlasting you [are] God.” Instead of אֵל (’el, “God”) the LXX reads אַל (’al, “not”) and joins the negative particle to the following verse, making the verb תָּשֵׁב (tashev) a jussive. In this case v. 3a reads as a prayer, “do not turn man back to a low place.” However, taking תָּשֵׁב as a jussive is problematic in light of the following following wayyiqtol form וַתֹּאמֶר (vato’mer, “and you said/say”).

[93:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “from antiquity [are] you.” As the context suggests, this refers specifically to God’s royal position, not his personal existence.

[102:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “do not lift me up in the middle of my days.”

[102:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in a generation of generations [are] your years.”

[103:19]  ¹² tn Heb “his kingdom rules over all.”

[146:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “for a generation and a generation.”