Mazmur 18:20-26

18:20 The Lord repaid ¹  me for my godly deeds; ² 

he rewarded ³  my blameless behavior. ⁴ 

18:21 For I have obeyed the Lord’s commands; ⁵ 

I have not rebelled against my God. ⁶ 

18:22 For I am aware of all his regulations, ⁷ 

and I do not reject his rules. ⁸ 

18:23 I was innocent before him,

and kept myself from sinning. ⁹ 

18:24 The Lord rewarded me for my godly deeds; ¹⁰ 

he took notice of my blameless behavior. ¹¹ 

18:25 You prove to be loyal ¹²  to one who is faithful; ¹³ 

you prove to be trustworthy ¹⁴  to one who is innocent. ¹⁵ 

18:26 You prove to be reliable ¹⁶  to one who is blameless,

but you prove to be deceptive ¹⁷  to one who is perverse. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 45:7

45:7 You love ¹⁹  justice and hate evil. ²⁰ 

For this reason God, your God ²¹  has anointed you ²² 

with the oil of joy, ²³  elevating you above your companions. ²⁴ 

Mazmur 72:1-4

Psalm 72 ²⁵ 

For ²⁶  Solomon.

72:1 O God, grant the king the ability to make just decisions! ²⁷ 

Grant the king’s son ²⁸  the ability to make fair decisions! ²⁹ 

72:2 Then he will judge ³⁰  your people fairly,

and your oppressed ones ³¹  equitably.

72:3 The mountains will bring news of peace to the people,

and the hills will announce justice. ³² 

72:4 He will defend ³³  the oppressed among the people;

he will deliver ³⁴  the children ³⁵  of the poor

and crush the oppressor.

Mazmur 72:7

72:7 During his days the godly will flourish; ³⁶ 

peace will prevail as long as the moon remains in the sky. ³⁷ 

Mazmur 72:12-14

72:12 For he will rescue the needy ³⁸  when they cry out for help,

and the oppressed ³⁹  who have no defender.

72:13 He will take pity ⁴⁰  on the poor and needy;

the lives of the needy he will save.

72:14 From harm and violence he will defend them; ⁴¹ 

he will value their lives. ⁴² 

Mazmur 89:14

89:14 Equity and justice are the foundation of your throne. ⁴³ 

Loyal love and faithfulness characterize your rule. ⁴⁴ 

Mazmur 89:30-32

89:30 If his sons reject my law

and disobey my regulations,

89:31 if they break ⁴⁵  my rules

and do not keep my commandments,

89:32 I will punish their rebellion by beating them with a club, ⁴⁶ 

their sin by inflicting them with bruises. ⁴⁷ 

[18:20]  ¹ tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not imperfect.

[18:20]  ² tn Heb “according to my righteousness.” As vv. 22-24 make clear, the psalmist refers here to his unwavering obedience to God’s commands. In these verses the psalmist explains that the Lord was pleased with him and willing to deliver him because he had been loyal to God and obedient to his commandments. Ancient Near Eastern literature contains numerous parallels. A superior (a god or king) would typically reward a subject (a king or the servant of a king, respectively) for loyalty and obedience. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 211-13.

[18:20]  ³ tn The unreduced Hiphil prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, in which case the psalmist would be generalizing. However, both the preceding and following contexts (see especially v. 24) suggest he is narrating his experience. Despite its unreduced form, the verb is better taken as a preterite. For other examples of unreduced Hiphil preterites, see Pss 55:14a; 68:9a, 10b; 80:8a; 89:43a; 107:38b; 116:6b.

[18:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “according to the purity of my hands he repaid to me.” “Hands” suggest activity and behavior.

[18:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “for I have kept the ways of the Lord.” The phrase “ways of the Lord” refers here to the “conduct required” by the Lord. In Ps 25 the Lord’s “ways” are associated with his covenantal demands (see vv. 4, 9-10). See also Ps 119:3 (cf. vv. 1, 4), as well as Deut 8:6; 10:12; 11:22; 19:9; 26:17; 28:9; 30:16.

[18:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “I have not acted wickedly from my God.” The statement is elliptical; the idea is, “I have not acted wickedly and, in so doing, departed from my God.”

[18:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “for all his regulations [are] before me.” The Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim, “regulations”) refers to God’s covenantal requirements, especially those which the king is responsible to follow (cf. Deut 17:18-20). See also Pss 19:9 (cf. vv. 7-8); 89:30; 147:20 (cf. v. 19), as well as the numerous uses of the term in Ps 119.

[18:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “and his rules I do not turn aside from me.” 2 Sam 22:23 reads, “and his rules, I do not turn aside from it.” The prefixed verbal form is probably an imperfect; the psalmist here generalizes about his loyalty to God’s commands. The Lord’s “rules” are the stipulations of the covenant which the king was responsible to obey (see Ps 89:31; cf. v. 30 and Deut 17:18-20).

[18:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “from my sin,” that is, from making it my own in any way.

[18:23]  sn Kept myself from sinning. Leading a blameless life meant that the king would be loyal to God’s covenant, purge the government and society of evil and unjust officials, and reward loyalty to the Lord (see Ps 101).

[18:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “according to my righteousness.”

[18:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “according to the purity of my hands before his eyes.” 2 Sam 22:25 reads “according to my purity before his eyes.” The verbal repetition (compare vv. 20 and 24) sets off vv. 20-24 as a distinct sub-unit within the psalm.

[18:25]  ¹² tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 25-29 draw attention to God’s characteristic actions. Based on his experience, the psalmist generalizes about God’s just dealings with people (vv. 25-27) and about the way in which God typically empowers him on the battlefield (vv. 28-29). The Hitpael stem is used in vv. 26-27 in a reflexive resultative (or causative) sense. God makes himself loyal, etc. in the sense that he conducts or reveals himself as such. On this use of the Hitpael stem, see GKC 149-50 §54.e.

[18:25]  ¹³ tn Or “to a faithful follower.” A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[18:25]  ¹⁴ tn Or “innocent.”

[18:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a man of innocence.”

[18:26]  ¹⁶ tn Or “blameless.”

[18:26]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew verb פָתַל (patal) is used in only three other texts. In Gen 30:8 it means literally “to wrestle,” or “to twist.” In Job 5:13 it refers to devious individuals, and in Prov 8:8 to deceptive words.

[18:26]  ¹⁸ tn The adjective עִקֵּשׁ (’iqqesh) has the basic nuance “twisted, crooked,” and by extension refers to someone or something that is morally perverse. It appears frequently in Proverbs, where it is used of evil people (22:5), speech (8:8; 19:1), thoughts (11:20; 17:20), and life styles (2:15; 28:6). A righteous king opposes such people (Ps 101:4).

[18:26]  sn Verses 25-26 affirm God’s justice. He responds to people in accordance with their moral character. His response mirrors their actions. The faithful and blameless find God to be loyal and reliable in his dealings with them. But deceivers discover he is able and willing to use deceit to destroy them. For a more extensive discussion of the theme of divine deception in the OT, see R. B. Chisholm, “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 11-28.

[45:7]  ¹⁹ sn To love justice means to actively promote it.

[45:7]  ²⁰ sn To hate evil means to actively oppose it.

[45:7]  ²¹ tn For other examples of the repetition of Elohim, “God,” see Pss 43:4; 48:8, 14; 50:7; 51:14; 67:7. Because the name Yahweh (“Lord”) is relatively rare in Pss 42-83, where the name Elohim (“God”) predominates, this compounding of Elohim may be an alternative form of the compound name “the Lord my/your/our God.”

[45:7]  ²² sn Anointed you. When read in the light of the preceding context, the anointing is most naturally taken as referring to the king’s coronation. However, the following context (vv. 8-9) focuses on the wedding ceremony, so some prefer to see this anointing as part of the king’s preparations for the wedding celebration. Perhaps the reference to his anointing at his coronation facilitates the transition to the description of the wedding, for the king was also anointed on this occasion.

[45:7]  ²³ sn The phrase oil of joy alludes to the fact that the coronation of the king, which was ritually accomplished by anointing his head with olive oil, was a time of great celebration and renewed hope. (If one understands the anointing in conjunction with the wedding ceremony, the “joy” would be that associated with the marriage.) The phrase “oil of joy” also appears in Isa 61:3, where mourners are granted “oil of joy” in conjunction with their deliverance from oppression.

[45:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “from your companions.” The “companions” are most naturally understood as others in the royal family or, more generally, as the king’s countrymen.

[45:7]  sn Verses 6-7 are quoted in Heb 1:8-9, where they are applied to Jesus.

[72:1]  ²⁵ sn Psalm 72. This royal psalm contains a prayer for the Davidic king (note the imperatival form in v. 1 and the jussive forms in vv. 16-17). It is not entirely clear if vv. 2-15 express a prayer or anticipate a future reign. The translation assumes a blend of petition and vision: (I) opening prayer (v. 1), followed by anticipated results if prayer is answered (vv. 2-7); (II) prayer (v. 8), followed by anticipated results if prayer is answered (vv. 9-14); (III) closing prayer (vv. 15-17). Whether a prayer, vision, or combination of the two, the psalm depicts the king’s universal rule of peace and prosperity. As such it is indirectly messianic, for the ideal it expresses will only be fully realized during the Messiah’s earthly reign. Verses 18-19 are a conclusion for Book 2 of the Psalter (Pss 42-72; cf. Ps 41:13, which contains a similar conclusion for Book 1), while v. 20 appears to be a remnant of an earlier collection of psalms or an earlier edition of the Psalter.

[72:1]  ²⁶ tn The preposition could be understood as indicating authorship (“Of Solomon”), but since the psalm is a prayer for a king, it may be that the superscription reflects a tradition that understood this as a prayer for Solomon.

[72:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “O God, your judgments to [the] king give.”

[72:1]  ²⁸ sn Grant the king…Grant the king’s son. It is not entirely clear whether v. 1 envisions one individual or two. The phrase “the king’s son” in the second line may simply refer to “the king” of the first line, drawing attention to the fact that he has inherited his dynastic rule. Another option is that v. 1 envisions a co-regency between father and son (a common phenomenon in ancient Israel) or simply expresses a hope for a dynasty that champions justice.

[72:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and your justice to [the] son of [the] king.”

[72:2]  ³⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:2]  ³¹ sn These people are called God’s oppressed ones because he is their defender (see Pss 9:12, 18; 10:12; 12:5).

[72:3]  ³² tn Heb “[the] mountains will bear peace to the people, and [the] hills with justice.” The personified mountains and hills probably represent messengers who will sweep over the land announcing the king’s just decrees and policies. See Isa 52:7 and C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 2:133.

[72:4]  ³³ tn Heb “judge [for].”

[72:4]  ³⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:4]  ³⁵ tn Heb “sons.”

[72:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “sprout up,” like crops. This verse continues the metaphor of rain utilized in v. 6.

[72:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and [there will be an] abundance of peace until there is no more moon.”

[72:12]  ³⁸ tn The singular is representative. The typical needy individual here represents the entire group.

[72:12]  ³⁹ tn The singular is representative. The typical oppressed individual here represents the entire group.

[72:13]  ⁴⁰ tn The prefixed verb form is best understood as a defectively written imperfect (see Deut 7:16).

[72:14]  ⁴¹ tn Or “redeem their lives.” The verb “redeem” casts the Lord in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Pss 19:14; 69:18).

[72:14]  ⁴² tn Heb “their blood will be precious in his eyes.”

[89:14]  ⁴³ sn The Lord’s throne symbolizes his kingship.

[89:14]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “are in front of your face.” The idiom can mean “confront” (Ps 17:13) or “meet, enter the presence of” (Ps 95:2).

[89:31]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “desecrate.”

[89:32]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “I will punish with a club their rebellion.”

[89:32]  sn Despite the harsh image of beating…with a club, the language reflects a father-son relationship (see v. 30; 2 Sam 7:14). According to Proverbs, a שֵׁבֶט (shevet, “club”) was sometimes utilized to administer corporal punishment to rebellious children (see Prov 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14; 29:15).

[89:32]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “with blows their sin.”