¹ tn Heb, “when your days are full and you lie down with your ancestors.”

² tn Heb “your seed after you who comes out from your insides.”

³ tn Heb “and now, O Lord God, the word which you spoke concerning your servant and concerning his house, establish permanently.”

⁴ tn Heb “as you have spoken.”

⁵ tn Heb “and your name might be great permanently.” Following the imperative in v. 23b, the prefixed verbal form with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result.

⁶ tn Heb “saying.” The words “as people” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.

⁷ tn Heb “the house.” See the note on “dynastic house” in the following verse.

⁸ tn Heb “the God.” The article indicates uniqueness here.

⁹ tn The translation understands the prefixed verb form as a jussive, indicating David’s wish/prayer. Another option is to take the form as an imperfect and translate “your words are true.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and you have spoken to your servant this good thing.”

¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joab) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn Heb “if Aram is stronger than me.”

¹³ tn Heb “if the sons of Ammon are stronger than you.”

¹⁴ tc The MT has here “because you have caused the enemies of the Lord to treat the Lord with such contempt.” This is one of the so-called tiqqune sopherim, or “emendations of the scribes.” According to this ancient tradition, the scribes changed the text in order to soften somewhat the negative light in which David was presented. If that is the case, the MT reflects the altered text. The present translation departs from the MT here. Elsewhere the Piel stem of this verb means “treat with contempt,” but never “cause someone to treat with contempt.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “and not.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “say.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “my bone and my flesh.”

¹⁸ tn After the preceding imperfect verbal form, the subordinated imperative indicates purpose/result. S. R. Driver comments, “…the imper. is used instead of the more normal voluntative, for the purpose of expressing with somewhat greater force the intention of the previous verb” (S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 350).

¹⁹ tn Or “blameless.”

²⁰ tc The translation follows two medieval Hebrew mss in reading תִּתְפַּתָּל (titpattal, from the root פתל, “to twist”) rather than the MT תִּתַּפָּל (tittappal, from the root תפל, “to be tasteless,” “behave silly”; cf. KJV “unsavoury”). See as well the parallel passage in Ps 18:26. The verb פָתַל (patal) is used in only three other texts. In Gen 30:8 it means literally “to wrestle,” or “to twist.” In Job 5:13 it refers to devious individuals, and in Prov 8:8 to deceptive words. Cf. NAB, NASB “astute”; NIV “shrewd”; NRSV “perverse”; TEV, NLT “hostile.”

²¹ tn The adjective עִקֵּשׁ (’iqqesh) has the basic nuance “twisted; crooked,” and by extension refers to someone or something that is morally perverse. It appears frequently in Proverbs, where it is used of evil people (22:5), speech (8:8; 19:1), thoughts (11:20; 17:20) and life styles (2:15; 28:6). A righteous king opposes such people (Ps 101:4). Verses 26-27 affirm God’s justice. He responds to people in accordance with their moral character. His response mirrors their actions. The faithful and blameless find God to be loyal and reliable in his dealings with them. But deceivers discover he is able and willing to use deceit to destroy them. For a more extensive discussion of the theme of divine deception in the OT, see R. B. Chisholm, “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 11-28.

²² tn Heb “and [the one who] brings me out from my enemies.”

²³ tn Heb “you lift me up.” In light of the preceding and following references to deliverance, the verb רוּם (rum) probably here refers to being rescued from danger (see Ps 9:13). However, it could mean “exalt; elevate” here, indicating that the Lord has given him victory over his enemies and forced them to acknowledge the psalmist’s superiority.

²⁴ tn Heb “from those who rise against me.”