Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/179

Rh house, that thou hast brought me thus far? And this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; but thou hast spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O God. What can David say yet more unto thee concerning the honour which is done to thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant. O, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou wrought all this greatness, to make known all these great things. O, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem unto himself for a people, to make thee a name by great and terrible things, in driving out nations from before thy people, which thou redeemedst out of Egypt? For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou,, becamest their God. And now, O, let the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, be established for ever, and do as thou hast spoken. And

17. and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree] In 2 Sam. vii. 19, and this too after the manner of men, or rather and this is the law for men (an exclamation), but the text both in Sam. and Chron. is certainly corrupt. The Heb. phrase is not quite the same in the two passages, and there is nothing in Sam. corresponding with the words of high degree, but the text of Chron. seems to be derived from that of Sam. An emendation "and hast let me see the generations of men for ever," i.e. the fortunes of my distant descendants, has met with some approval, but no really satisfactory translation or explanation has yet been given of the Heb.

18. concerning the honour which is done to thy servant] Again an obscure text. Following Sam. we should probably omit these words.

thou knowest] Approvest, acceptest; cp. Ps. i. 6, ci. 4; Jer. i. 5.

19. for thy servant's sake] 2 Sam. vii. 21, for thy word's sake, but the LXX. of 2 Sam. agrees with the text of Chron.

21. what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel] Better as mg., who is like thy people Israel, a nation that is alone in the earth. Cp. Targ. a people unique and chosen in the earth.

23. be established] Lit. be made Amen (i.e. "sure").