But if his descendants forsake my instructions and fail to obey my regulations,
Parallel translations
- WEB If his children forsake my law, and don’t walk in my ordinances;
- KJV If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;
- BSB If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments,
- NKJV “Ifhis sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments,
- NASB ¶“If his sons abandon My Law And do not walk in My judgments,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God anticipates that David's descendants may forsake His law and disobey His commands.
Overview
The covenant includes a realistic provision for the king's sons straying from God's ways. This introduces the conditional element governing individual kings' experience of blessing. Their failures highlight the need for a faithful Son of David who would perfectly keep God's law (Matt. 5:17).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 2 Sam 7:14I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men;
- 1 Chr 28:9You, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for Yahweh searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.
- Ps 119:53Indignation has taken hold on me, because of the wicked who forsake your law.
- Prov 28:4Those who forsake the law praise the wicked; but those who keep the law contend with them.
- Ps 132:12If your children will keep my covenant, my testimony that I will teach them, their children also will sit on your throne forever more.”
- Prov 4:2for I give you sound learning. Don’t forsake my law.
- Ezek 18:17who has withdrawn his hand from the poor, who has not received interest nor increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.
- 2 Chr 7:17–22“As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances;
- Jer 9:13–16Yahweh says, “Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein,
- Ezek 20:19I am Yahweh your God. Walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them;
- Luke 1:6They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.
- Ezek 18:9has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live,” says the Lord Yahweh.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 89:30 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.