7:8 “So now, say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of hosts says: I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd 1 to make you leader of my people Israel.
36:7 He does not take his eyes 2 off the righteous;
but with kings on the throne
he seats the righteous 3 and exalts them forever. 4
21:26 this is what the sovereign Lord says:
Tear off the turban, 7
take off the crown!
Things must change! 8
Exalt the lowly,
bring down the proud! 9
1 tn Heb “and from after the sheep.”
2 tc Many commentators accept the change of “his eyes” to “his right” (reading דִּינוֹ [dino] for עֵינָיו [’enayv]). There is no compelling reason for the change; it makes the line commonplace.
3 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the righteous) has been repeated from the first part of the verse for clarity.
4 tn Heb “he seats them forever and exalts them.” The last verb can be understood as expressing a logical consequence of the preceding action (cf. GKC 328 §111.l = “he seats them forever so that he exalts them”). Or the two verbs can be taken as an adverbial hendiadys whereby the first modifies the second adverbially: “he exalts them by seating them forever” or “when he seats them forever” (cf. GKC 326 §111.d). Some interpret this verse to say that God seats kings on the throne, making a change in subject in the middle of the verse. But it makes better sense to see the righteous as the subject matter throughout – they are not only protected, but are exalted.
5 sn The metaphor depicts how secure his position will be.
6 tn Heb “and he will become a glorious throne for the house of his father.”
7 tn Elsewhere in the Bible the turban is worn by priests (Exod 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6; 39:28, 31; Lev 8:9; 16:4), but here a royal crown is in view.
8 tn Heb “This not this.”
9 tn Heb “the high one.”