Psalms 132

LORD, remember David, and all the hardships he went through.

1Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions:

Note"Remember" in Hebrew prayer is a request for action, not for recollection: it asks God to take David's case in hand and do something about it. The "hardships" are the years of struggle in and around David's reign.

2Remember how he swore an oath to the LORD, and made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:

2How he sware unto the LORD, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob;

Note"Mighty One of Jacob" is an old title for the God of Israel (it appears in Genesis 49:24). Jacob, also called Israel, was the ancestor from whom the twelve tribes traced their descent, so the title claims the God of the family's earliest history. No vow in these words is recorded anywhere else in the Bible; the psalm preserves it on its own.

3"I will not go into my house, and I will not get into my bed,

3Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed;

4I will not let my eyes sleep or my eyelids close in rest,

4I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids,

5until I find a place for the LORD, a home for the Mighty One of Jacob."

5Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.

NoteThe "place" and "home" mean a permanent building to house the ark, which until then had been kept in a tent. In the narrative books David gathers the materials but is not allowed to build it; his son Solomon does.

6Listen: we heard that the ark was at Ephratah; we found it in the fields of the woods.

6Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood.

Note"It" is the ark. Ephratah is a name attached both to a clan and to the district of Bethlehem, David's home town. "The fields of the woods" translates a Hebrew phrase, "fields of Jaar," almost certainly Kiriath-jearim, "town of woods," where the ark stood for some twenty years after the Philistines sent it back, before David brought it up to Jerusalem. The verse reads like the report of a search party that found what it was looking for.

7Let us go to the place where he lives; let us worship at his footstool.

7We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool.

NoteGod is pictured as a king seated on a throne, with the ark, and the sanctuary housing it, as the footstool under his feet: the point on earth touched by a throne located above it. Bowing at the footstool is the gesture made before an enthroned ruler.

8Rise up, LORD, and come to your resting place, you and the ark that shows your strength.

8Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength.

NoteThe ark was a gold-covered wooden chest holding the tablets of the covenant, carried on poles by priests. It was treated as the place where God's presence met Israel, and was taken out with the army as a sign of his power, hence "the ark of your strength." "Arise, LORD" repeats the words spoken whenever the ark set out on the march (Numbers 10:35); here they ask for the opposite, that it stop traveling and settle permanently.

9May your priests be clothed in right living, and may your faithful people shout for joy.

9Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy.

NotePriests were the officials who ran the sacrifices and rituals at the sanctuary, marked out by distinctive linen garments, so "clothed with" right living is a play on their vestments: a quality worn where everyone can see it. The word behind "faithful people" (Hebrew hasidim) means the loyal ones, those bound to God by steady faithfulness; it does not mean saints in the later sense of canonised holy people.

10For the sake of your servant David, do not turn away from the king you chose and anointed.

10For thy servant David’s sake turn not away the face of thine anointed.

NoteKings were installed by having olive oil poured over the head; "your anointed" is the reigning king of David's line (the Hebrew word is mashiach, the source of "messiah"). The King James "turn not away the face" is the idiom for refusing a petition, sending someone who has come asking away empty-handed.

11The LORD swore an oath to David, a true promise he will not go back on: "I will put one of your own children on your throne.

11The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.

NoteThis is the dynastic promise reported in 2 Samuel 7. "Fruit of thy body" is literally offspring: a physical descendant of David, not a successor chosen some other way.

12If your sons keep my covenant and the terms I teach them, then their sons too will sit on your throne forever."

12If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.

NoteA covenant is a binding agreement with stated terms, closer to a treaty than to a private promise; the "testimony" is those terms themselves, the stipulations laid down in writing. As phrased here the promise carries a condition, which is worth noticing beside verse 11, where it sounds unconditional.

13For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has wanted it for his home.

13For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.

NoteZion was first the name of the fortified hill David captured in Jerusalem, then of the hill the temple stood on, and by extension of the whole city and its people.

14"This is my resting place forever. Here I will live, because I have wanted it.

14This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.

Note"Resting place" does not mean sleep. It means a settled, permanent home, the end of the ark's years of being moved from place to place.

15I will bless this city with plenty of food; I will give her poor people all the bread they need.

15I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread.

NoteCities are grammatically feminine in Hebrew, so Zion is "she" and "her" throughout these verses. "Her provision" is the city's food supply, its stores of grain and bread.

16I will also clothe her priests with saving help, and her faithful people will shout out loud for joy.

16I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "salvation" or "saving help" (yeshuah) means concrete rescue: victory in battle, safety, being got out of danger. It is not primarily about life after death.

17There I will make a horn grow for David; I have set up a lamp for the king I chose and anointed.

17There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed.

NoteA horn is an animal's horn, the standard Hebrew image for strength and the power to fight; "make a horn grow" also carries the sense of a plant sprouting, so the picture is of a strong descendant springing up. A lamp kept burning in a house stands for a family line that has not died out; the same image is used of David's dynasty in 1 Kings 11:36.

18I will clothe his enemies in shame, but the crown on his own head will shine."

18His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish.

NoteThe crown here (Hebrew nezer) is the royal diadem, an emblem of being set apart for office. The verb rendered "flourish" or "shine" is the plant word again, so the crown sprouts and gleams on the king's head while his enemies are dressed in disgrace, clothing set against clothing, as in verses 9 and 16.