Mazmur 2:2

2:2 The kings of the earth ¹  form a united front; ² 

the rulers collaborate ³ 

against the Lord and his anointed king. ⁴ 

Mazmur 2:6-8

2:6 “I myself ⁵  have installed ⁶  my king

on Zion, my holy hill.”

2:7 The king says, ⁷  “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ⁸ 

‘You are my son! ⁹  This very day I have become your father!

2:8 Ask me,

and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, ¹⁰ 

the ends of the earth as your personal property.

Mazmur 110:2

110:2 The Lord ¹¹  extends ¹²  your dominion ¹³  from Zion.

Rule in the midst of your enemies!

Mazmur 110:4

110:4 The Lord makes this promise on oath ¹⁴  and will not revoke it: ¹⁵ 

“You are an eternal priest ¹⁶  after the pattern of ¹⁷  Melchizedek.” ¹⁸ 

[2:2]  ¹ sn The expression kings of the earth refers somewhat hyperbolically to the kings who had been conquered by and were subject to the Davidic king.

[2:2]  ² tn Or “take their stand.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes their action as underway.

[2:2]  ³ tn Or “conspire together.” The verbal form is a Niphal from יָסַד (yasad). BDB 413-14 s.v. יָסַד defines the verb as “establish, found,” but HALOT 417 s.v. II יסד proposes a homonym meaning “get together, conspire” (an alternate form of סוּד, sud).

[2:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and against his anointed one.” The Davidic king is the referent (see vv. 6-7).

[2:6]  ⁵ tn The first person pronoun appears before the first person verbal form for emphasis, reflected in the translation by “myself.”

[2:6]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps “consecrated.”

[2:7]  ⁷ tn The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.

[2:7]  ⁸ tn Or “I will relate the decree. The Lord said to me” (in accordance with the Masoretic accentuation).

[2:7]  ⁹ sn ‘You are my son!’ The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26-27). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[2:8]  ¹⁰ sn I will give you the nations. The Lord promises the Davidic king universal dominion.

[110:2]  ¹¹ tn Since the Lord is mentioned in the third person (note the use of the first person in v. 1), it is likely that these are the psalmist’s words to the king, not a continuation of the oracle per se.

[110:2]  ¹² tn The prefixed verbal form is understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though it could be taken as future.

[110:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “your strong scepter,” symbolic of the king’s royal authority and dominion.

[110:4]  ¹⁴ tn Or “swears, vows.”

[110:4]  ¹⁵ tn Or “will not change his mind.” The negated Niphal imperfect of נָחַם (nakham) is a way of marking an announcement as an irrevocable decree. See 1 Sam 15:29; Ezek 24:14, as well as R. B. Chisholm, “Does God ‘Change His Mind’?” BSac 152 (1995): 387-99.

[110:4]  ¹⁶ sn You are an eternal priest. The Davidic king exercised a non-Levitical priestly role. The king superintended Judah’s cultic ritual, had authority over the Levites, and sometimes led in formal worship. David himself instructed the Levites to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem (1 Chr 15:11-15), joined the procession, offered sacrifices, wore a priestly ephod, and blessed the people (2 Sam 6:12-19). At the dedication of the temple Solomon led the ceremony, offering sacrifices and praying on behalf of the people (1 Kgs 8).

[110:4]  ¹⁷ tn The phrase עַל־דִּבְרָתִי (’al-divratiy) is a variant of עַל־דִּבְרָת (’al-divrat; the final yod [י] being an archaic genitival ending), which in turn is a variant of עַל דָּבַר (’al davar). Both phrases can mean “concerning” or “because of,” but neither of these nuances fits the use of עַל־דִּבְרָתִי in Ps 110:4. Here the phrase probably carries the sense “according to the manner of.” See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 81.

[110:4]  ¹⁸ sn The Davidic king’s priestly role is analogous to that of Melchizedek, who was both “king of Salem” (i.e., Jerusalem) and a “priest of God Most High” in the time of Abraham (Gen 14:18-20). Like Melchizedek, the Davidic king was a royal priest, distinct from the Aaronic line (see Heb 7). The analogy focuses on the king’s priestly role; the language need not imply that Melchizedek himself was “an eternal priest.”