2:10 So now, you kings, do what is wise; 1
you rulers of the earth, submit to correction! 2
82:7 Yet you will die like mortals; 3
you will fall like all the other rulers.” 4
83:11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, 5
and all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna, 6
94:20 Cruel rulers 7 are not your allies,
those who make oppressive laws. 8
119:23 Though rulers plot and slander me, 9
your servant meditates on your statutes.
1 sn The speaker here is either the psalmist or the Davidic king, who now addresses the rebellious kings.
2 tn The Niphal has here a tolerative nuance; the kings are urged to submit themselves to the advice being offered.
3 tn Heb “men.” The point in the context is mortality, however, not maleness.
sn You will die like mortals. For the concept of a god losing immortality and dying, see Isa 14:12-15, which alludes to a pagan myth in which the petty god “Shining One, son of the Dawn,” is hurled into Sheol for his hubris.
4 tn Heb “like one of the rulers.” The comparison does not necessarily imply that they are not rulers. The expression “like one of” can sometimes mean “as one of” (Gen 49:16; Obad 11) or “as any other of” (Judg 16:7, 11).
5 sn Oreb and Zeeb were the generals of the Midianite army that was defeated by Gideon. The Ephraimites captured and executed both of them and sent their heads to Gideon (Judg 7:24-25).
6 sn Zebah and Zalmunna were the Midianite kings. Gideon captured them and executed them (Judg 8:1-21).
7 tn Heb “a throne of destruction.” “Throne” stands here by metonymy for rulers who occupy thrones.
8 tn Heb “Is a throne of destruction united to you, one that forms trouble upon a statute?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “Of course not!” The translation, while not preserving the interrogative form of the statement, reflects its rhetorical force.
9 tn Heb “though rulers sit, about me they talk together.” (For another example of the Niphal of דָּבַר (davar) used with a suffixed form of the preposition ב, see Ezek 33:30.)