2:1 Why 2 do the nations rebel? 3
Why 4 are the countries 5 devising 6 plots that will fail? 7
2:8 Ask me,
and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, 8
the ends of the earth as your personal property.
2:9 You will break them 9 with an iron scepter; 10
you will smash them like a potter’s jar!’” 11
78:55 He drove the nations out from before them;
he assigned them their tribal allotments 12
and allowed the tribes of Israel to settle down. 13
79:10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants
be avenged among the nations! 14
149:7 in order to take 15 revenge on the nations,
and punish foreigners.
149:1 Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song!
Praise him in the assembly of the godly! 17
17:45 But David replied to the Philistine, “You are coming against me with sword and spear and javelin. But I am coming against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel’s armies, whom you have defied! 17:46 This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand! I will strike you down and cut off your head. This day I will give the corpses of the Philistine army to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land. Then all the land will realize that Israel has a God 17:47 and all this assembly will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves! For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will deliver you into our hand.”
17:48 The Philistine drew steadily closer to David to attack him, while David quickly ran toward the battle line to attack the Philistine. 18 17:49 David reached his hand into the bag and took out a stone. He slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank deeply into his forehead, and he fell down with his face to the ground.
17:50 19 David prevailed over the Philistine with just the sling and the stone. He struck down the Philistine and killed him. David did not even have a sword in his hand. 20 17:51 David ran and stood over the Philistine. He grabbed Goliath’s 21 sword, drew it from its sheath, 22 killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they ran away.
5:6 The Lord attacked 25 the residents of Ashdod severely, bringing devastation on them. He struck the people of 26 both Ashdod and the surrounding area with sores. 27
8:1 In his old age Samuel appointed his sons as judges over Israel. 8:2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second son was Abijah. They were judges in Beer Sheba. 8:3 But his sons did not follow 28 his ways. Instead, they made money dishonestly, accepted bribes, and perverted justice. 29
8:4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and approached Samuel at Ramah. 8:5 They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons don’t follow your ways. So now appoint over us a king to lead 30 us, just like all the other nations have.”
8:6 But this request displeased Samuel, for 31 they said, “Give us a king to lead us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. 8:7 The Lord said to Samuel, “Do everything the people request of you. 32 For it is not you that they have rejected, but it is me that they have rejected as their king. 8:8 Just as they have done 33 from the day that I brought them up from Egypt until this very day, they have rejected me and have served other gods. This is what they are also doing to you. 8:9 So now do as they say. 34 But seriously warn 35 them and make them aware of the policies of the king who will rule over them.” 36
8:10 So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 8:11 He said, “Here are the policies of the king who will rule over you: He will conscript your sons and put them in his chariot forces and in his cavalry; they will run in front of his chariot. 8:12 He will appoint for himself leaders of thousands and leaders of fifties, 37 as well as those who plow his ground, reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and his chariot equipment. 8:13 He will take your daughters to be ointment makers, cooks, and bakers. 8:14 He will take your best fields and vineyards and give them to his own servants. 8:15 He will demand a tenth of your seed and of the produce of your vineyards and give it to his administrators 38 and his servants.
10:7 “When these signs have taken place, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God will be with you. 39 10:8 You will go down to Gilgal before me. I am going to join you there to offer burnt offerings and to make peace offerings. You should wait for seven days, until I arrive and tell you what to do.”
10:9 As Saul 40 turned 41 to leave Samuel, God changed his inmost person. 42 All these signs happened on that very day.
22:1 So David left there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s family 43 learned about it, they went down there to him.
1 sn Psalm 2. In this royal psalm the author asserts the special status of the divinely chosen Davidic king and warns the nations and their rulers to submit to the authority of God and his chosen vice-regent.
2 tn The question is rhetorical. Rather than seeking information, the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would have the audacity to rebel against God and his chosen king.
3 tn The Hebrew verb רָגַשׁ (ragash) occurs only here. In Dan 6:6, 11, 15 the Aramaic cognate verb describes several officials acting as a group. A Hebrew nominal derivative is used in Ps 55:14 of a crowd of people in the temple.
4 tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.
5 tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).
6 tn The Hebrew imperfect form describes the rebellion as underway. The verb הָגָה (hagah), which means “to recite quietly, meditate,” here has the metonymic nuance “devise, plan, plot” (see Ps 38:12; Prov 24:2).
7 tn Heb “devising emptiness.” The noun רִיק (riq, “emptiness”) may characterize their behavior as “worthless, morally bankrupt” but more likely refers to the outcome of their plots (i.e., failure). As the rest of the psalm emphasizes, their rebellion will fail.
8 sn I will give you the nations. The
9 tc The LXX reads “you will shepherd them.” This reading, quoted in the Greek text of the NT in Rev 2:27; 12:5; 19:15, assumes a different vocalization of the consonantal Hebrew text and understands the verb as רָעָה (ra’ah, “to shepherd”) rather than רָעָע (ra’a’, “to break”). But the presence of נָפַץ (nafats, “to smash”) in the next line strongly favors the MT vocalization.
10 tn The Hebrew term שֵׁבֶט (shevet) can refer to a “staff” or “rod,” but here it probably refers to the Davidic king’s royal scepter, symbolizing his sovereignty.
11 sn Like a potter’s jar. Before the Davidic king’s awesome power, the rebellious nations are like fragile pottery.
12 tn Heb “he caused to fall [to] them with a measuring line an inheritance.”
13 tn Heb “and caused the tribes of Israel to settle down in their tents.”
14 tn Heb “may it be known among the nations, to our eyes, the vengeance of the shed blood of your servants.”
15 tn Heb “to do.”
16 sn Psalm 149. The psalmist calls upon God’s people to praise him because he is just and avenges them.
17 tn Heb “his praise in the assembly of the godly ones.”
18 tc Most LXX
19 tc Most LXX
20 tn Verse 50 is a summary statement; v. 51 gives a more detailed account of how David killed the Philistine.
21 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
22 tc Most LXX
23 tn Heb “the men of Israel” (so KJV, NASB); NAB, NIV, NRSV “the Israelites.”
24 tn Heb “to meet.”
25 tn Heb “the hand of the
26 tn The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
27 tc The LXX and Vulgate add the following: “And mice multiplied in their land, and the terror of death was throughout the entire city.”
tn Or “tumors” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV “growths on their skin”; KJV “emerods”; NAB “hemorrhoids.”
28 tn Heb “walk in” (also in v. 5).
29 tn Heb “and they turned aside after unjust gain and took bribes and perverted justice.”
30 tn Heb “judge” (also in v. 6).
31 tn Heb “when.”
32 tn Heb “Listen to the voice of the people, to all which they say to you.”
33 tn Heb “according to all the deeds which they have done.”
34 tn Heb “and now, listen to their voice.”
35 tn The infinitive absolute appears before the imperative for emphasis.
36 tn Heb “and tell them the manner of the king who will rule over them.”
37 tc The numbers of v. 12 are confused in the Greek and Syriac versions. For “fifties” the LXX has “hundreds.” The Syriac Peshitta has “heads of thousands and heads of hundreds and heads of fifties and heads of tens,” perhaps reflecting influence from Deut 1:15.
38 tn Or “eunuchs” (so NAB); NIV “officials”; KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT “officers.”
39 sn In light of Saul’s commission to be Israel’s deliverer (see v. 1), it is likely that some type of military action against the Philistines (see v.5) is implied.
40 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
41 tn Heb “turned his shoulder.”
42 tn Heb “God turned for him another heart”; NAB, NRSV “gave him another heart”; NIV, NCV “changed Saul’s heart”; TEV “gave Saul a new nature”; CEV “made Saul feel like a different person.”
43 tn Heb “house.”
44 tn Or “the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).
45 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
46 tn Grk “will shepherd.”
47 tn Or “scepter.” The Greek term ῥάβδος (rJabdo") can mean either “rod” or “scepter.”
sn A quotation from Ps 2:9 (see also Rev 2:27, 12:5).
48 sn He stomps the winepress. See Isa 63:3, where Messiah does this alone (usually several individuals would join in the process), and Rev 14:20.
49 tn The genitive θυμοῦ (qumou) has been translated as an attributed genitive. Following BDAG 461 s.v. θυμός 2, the combination of the genitives of θυμός (qumos) and ὀργή (orgh) in Rev 16:19 and 19:15 are taken to be a strengthening of the thought as in the OT and Qumran literature (Exod 32:12; Jer 32:37; Lam 2:3; CD 10:9).
50 tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”