2:7 The king says, 1 “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: 2
‘You are my son! 3 This very day I have become your father!
33:6 By the Lord’s decree 4 the heavens were made;
by a mere word from his mouth all the stars in the sky were created. 5
1 tn The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.
2 tn Or “I will relate the decree. The
3 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.
4 tn Heb “word.”
5 tn Heb “and by the breath of his mouth all their host.” The words “were created” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons; they are understood by ellipsis (note “were made” in the preceding line). The description is consistent with Gen 1:16, which indicates that God spoke the heavenly luminaries into existence.