For your servant David’s sake, don’t turn away the face of your anointed one.
Parallel Translations
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For your servant David’s sake, don’t turn away the face of your anointed one.
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For thy servant David’s sake turn not away the face of thine anointed.
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For Thy servant David's sake turn not away the face of Thine anointed.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Psalms 132:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Kings 11:12-13 Nevertheless, I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake; but I will tear it out of your son’s hand. However I will not tear away all the kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son, for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.”
- 1 Kings 11:34 “ ‘However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand; but I will make him prince all the days of his life, for David my servant’s sake whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes;
- 1 Kings 15:4-5 Nevertheless for David’s sake, Yahweh his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem; because David did that which was right in Yahweh’s eyes, and didn’t turn away from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
- 2 Kings 19:34 ‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’ ”
- 2 Chronicles 6:42 “Yahweh God, don’t turn away the face of your anointed. Remember your loving kindnesses to David your servant.”
- Psalms 84:9 Behold, God our shield, look at the face of your anointed.
- Hosea 3:5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.
- Psalms 89:38-39 But you have rejected and spurned. You have been angry with your anointed. You have renounced the covenant of your servant. You have defiled his crown in the dust.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 10. For thy servant David’s sake, etc. Some would…
10. For thy servant David’s sake, etc. Some would connect the first part of the verse with the preceding, without adducing reasons against this, it must at once strike the reader that this verse must be taken together. Before entering upon an explanation of the Psalmist’s meaning I may just say that it would be to put a forced sense upon the words were we to understand by turning away the face of thy Christ — depriving us of a view of the Redeemer. We may infer with certainty from Solomon’s prayer, that they are a request that God would show favor to the king. The same expression is employed by Bathsheba in the request which she made to her son Solomon, “Turn not away thy face,” meaning that he would not cast her out of his sight. (1 Kings 2:20.) It is an expression tantamount to shewing displeasure; and we might say a word or two in reference to it because the other idea of referring the words to our Redeemer is plausible, and might mislead persons of little discernment. Nothing more, then, is here asked than that God would not despise and reject the prayers which David had preferred in the name of all the people. The favor is asked for David’s sake, only because God had made a covenant with him. So far as that privilege was concerned, he did not stand exactly upon the footing of any other ordinary man. The prayer, in short, is to the effect that God in remembrance of his promise would show favor to the posterity of David, for though this prayer for the Church must be considered as dictated to each of the kings, the foundation was in the person of David. The Church was thus taught figuratively that Christ, as Mediator, would make intercession for all his people. As yet he had not appeared in the flesh, nor entered by the sacrifice of himself into the Holiest of all, and in the meantime the people had a figurative Mediator to embolden them in their supplications.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain As thou first madest promise to David, so continue…
As thou first madest promise to David, so continue it to his posterity, that whatsoever they shall ask for their people, it may be granted.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 132:10 For thy servant David’s sake turn not…
Psa 132:10 For thy servant David’s sake turn not away the face of thine anointed.
Ver. 10. For thy servant David’s sake] For thy covenant’s sake made with him, and for thy Christ’s sake, who is oft called David, as Hos 3:5, so for the Lord’s sake, Dan 9:17.
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Turn not away the face of thine anointed] Of thy Christ; defer not his coming, or deny not my request, as 1Ki 2:16-17; 1Ki 2:20.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain For thy servant David’s sake; in regard of thy…
For thy servant David’s sake; in regard of thy singular kindness and promises vouchsafed to David, as this is explained in the following verses. And this verse makes it more than probable that David was not the penman of this Psalm, who never used to beg mercies from God for his own sake, but constantly for his name’s sake, and for the sake of his truth, mercy, goodness, or righteousness, as will be evident to any one that reads this book.
Turn not away the face; cast me not out of thy presence, do not reject or deny my request, as this phrase is expounded, 1Ki 2:16. Of thine anointed; of me, whom thou hast anointed to be king over thy people. He speaks of himself in the third person, as is usual.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain If thy children will keep my covenant, and my…
If thy children will keep my covenant, and my testimony that I shall teach them,.... The former part of the promise and oath is absolute, respecting the Messiah; but this is conditional, and relates to the seed of David, both immediate, and in succeeding generations; proposing their observance of the law of God, as the condition of their enjoying the kingdom after him. By the "covenant" and "testimony" are meant the same thing; the law, which was given to the people of Israel in the form of a covenant, and was a testimony of the will of God to them: in this the kings of Israel were to read continually, and conduct according to it in their personal walk and conversation, and by it to rule the people they were set over; and which the Lord promises to teach them by his prophets, whose business it was not to promulgate new laws, but to explain what were given. Now in case this was attended to, and the instructions of prophets observed, then thus it would be,
their children also shall sit upon thy throne for evermore; but, the condition not being fulfilled, this did not take place: Solomon, his immediate successor, fell into idolatry in the latter part of his life; and Rehoboam, his son, slighted the advice of the old men, founded upon the laws of God, and ten tribes revolted from him: several succeeding kings of Judah, of the house of David, were very wicked princes; and the race of them ended in Zedekiah, who was carried captive into Babylon. Indeed all this is true of Christ and his spiritual offspring; he kept the covenant of grace made with his divine Father; and the law or testimony; and fulfilled it in the room and stead of his people; and did the whole will and work of his Father, and in all things pleased him: and his children also lay hold by faith on the covenant and the promises of it; and receive, observe, and retain the testimony of the Gospel; and shall reign with Christ, on the same throne with him, for ever and ever.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain David's sake - In regard of thy promises vouchsafed…
David's sake - In regard of thy promises vouchsafed to David. Turn not - Cast me not out of thy presence. Of - Of me whom thou hast anointed to be king over thy people.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. The face of thine anointed.] David. Remember…
Verse 10. The face of thine anointed.] David. Remember thy promises to him, that he may be restored to thee and to thy worship.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For thy servant David’s sake - Because of the…
For thy servant David’s sake - Because of the promise made to him; because of the zeal which he has shown in securing a place for the ark. Let it not be in vain that he has shown such a regard to the honor of God; let not the promises made to him fail. Such a prayer is proper now. There is nothing wrong in our beseeching God to carry out and accomplish the purposes cherished by his church for promoting the honor of his name; or for a child to pray that the purposes of a pious parent in regard to himself may not fail. It is an expression of nature - a desire that the labor and sacrifices of those who have gone before us should not be lost. This is the language of the author of the psalm, and of those for whom the psalm was composed. See Psa 132:1. In view of all that David has done, do thou now show favor and mercy.
Turn not away the face of thine anointed - As if in displeasure, or in forgetfulness. The word anointed would refer to one who was set apart as a king, a priest, or a prophet. See the notes at Mat 1:1. The word would be applicable to David himself, as the anointed king; in a higher sense it is applicable to the Messiah, the Christ. The reference here is probably to David himself, as if a failure to carry out his purposes in regard to the sanctuary, or to fulfill the promises made to him, would be a turning away the face from him; would be a mark of the divine displeasure against him. The prayer is, that God would carry out those purposes as if his face was continually turned with benignity and favor toward David.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 10. David’s sake… anointed—These terms must be taken as…
10. David’s sake… anointed—These terms must be taken as synonymous, as in Psa_132:17 and Psa_89:20. It is not unreasonable that David should invoke a blessing upon himself for the sake of his own piety and integrity. Examples of this kind are not infrequent. See 2Ki_20:3; Neh_13:14; Jer_15:15. The only supposed difficulty lies in this rare use of the third person, but it must be considered the language is highly courtly and reverential. Hengstenberg says: “That the ‘anointed’ is no other than David, is evident from the parallelism from Psa_132:1 to Psa_132:17.” No other king, or “anointed,” than David is introduced throughout the psalm.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. This verse is still part of the people’s…
10. This verse is still part of the people’s prayer, though its language is coloured by the feeling of the Psalmist’s own age, and expresses the perplexity of a time in which Jehovah seemed to have disowned His anointed. The people pray for a blessing on each successive king for David’s sake. Thine anointed is not David only, but David and his successors, Jehovah’s anointed king for the time being. For him the people pray that Jehovah will not ‘turn away his face,’ i.e. repulse his requests or banish him from His favour and presence. For the phrase cp. 1Ki_2:16; 2Ki_18:24; Psa_84:9. The thought corresponds to the promise so prominent in 2 Samuel 7, that David’s house should be established ‘before Jehovah’ (2Sa_7:16, read ‘before me’ 2Sa_7:26; 2Sa_7:29). Cp. Psa_61:7.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) The most obvious construction of this verse is…
(10) The most obvious construction of this verse is that which makes it an intercession, on the ground of the Divine partiality for David, in behalf of another prince—one of his successors—by the people at large. In the original (2Ch_6:42) it is of course Solomon who prays for himself; here (see Introduction) we must naturally think of one of the Asmonean princes. The expression “to turn away the face,” of a suppliant, instead of “turning from him,” is borrowed from court etiquette. (Comp. 1Ki_2:16, margin.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For thy servant David"s sake turn not away the…
For thy servant David"s sake turn not away the face of thine anointed. Here the text diverges still more from that of Chronicles, which runs thus: "O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant" The meaning, however, is much the same in both passages: "For David"s sake, to whom thou hast shown so many mercies, turn not away the facei.e. reject not the petition, or the offering of his representative."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 10. For thy servant David's sake turn not…
Ver. 10. For thy servant David's sake turn not away the face of thine anointed. King Solomon was praying, and here the people pray for him that his face may not be turned away, or that he may not be refused an audience. It is a dreadful thing to have our face turned away from God, or to have his face turned away from us. If we are anointed of the Spirit the Lord will look upon us with favour. Specially is this true of Him who represents us, and is on our behalf the Christ the truly anointed of the Lord. Jesus is both our David and God's anointed; in him is found in fulness that which David received in measure. For his sake all those who are anointed in him are accepted. God blessed Solomon and succeeding kings, for David's sake; and he will bless us for Jesus' sake. How condescending was the Son of the Highest to take upon himself the form of a servant, to be anointed for us, and to go in before the mercyseat to plead on our behalf! The Psalm sings of the ark, and it may well remind us of the going in of the anointed priest within the veil: all depended upon his acceptance, and therefore well do the people pray, "Turn not away the face of thine anointed."
Thus, in these three verses, we have a prayer for the temple, the ark, the priests, the Levites, the people, and the king: in each petition there is a fulness of meaning well worthy of careful thought. We cannot plead too much in detail; the fault of most prayers is their indefiniteness. In God's house and worship everything needs a blessing, and every person connected therewith needs it continually. As David vowed and prayed when he was minded to house the ark, so now the prayer is continued when the temple is consecrated, and the Lord deigns to fill it with his glory. We shall never have done praying till we have done needing.
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Ver. 10. For thy servant David's sake. Solomon's plea for the divine blessing to rest upon him as king, "For thy servant David's sake", was justified in its use by God: Isa 37:35. It gives no countenance to the idea of intercession on the part of deceased saints; for it is not a prayer to David, but a pleading with God for the sake of David. Nor does it support the idea of works of supererogation on the part of David; it only implies a special divine delight in David, on account of which God was pleased to honour David's name during succeeding generations; and if the delight itself is pure grace, the expression of it, in any way, must be grace. Nor does it even give countenance to the idea that God's converting and saving grace may be expected by any man because his parents or ancestors were delighted in by God; for a plea of this character is in Scripture strictly confined to two instances, Abraham and David, with both of whom a special covenant was made, including their descendants, and it was just this covenant that authorised the use of the plea by those who by promise were specially interested, and by none others, and for the ends contemplated by the covenant. But it did prefigure the great Christian plea, "For Christ Jesus' sake"; just as God's selection of individual men and making them centres of revelation and religion, in the old time; prefigured "The man Christ Jesus" as the centre and basis of religion for all time. Hence in the plea, "For Christ's sake", the old pleas referred to are abolished, as the Jewish ritual is abolished. Christ bids us use His name: Joh 16:13-14, 20, etc. To believe the false notions mentioned above, or to trust in any other name for divine, gracious favour, is to dishonour the name of Christ. "For Christ's sake" is effective on account of the great covenant, the merits of Christ, and his session in heaven. John Field (of Sevenoaks), 1883.
Ver. 10. For thy servant David's sake. The frequency with which God is urged to hear and answer prayer for David's sake (1Ki 11:12-13 15:4 2Ki 8:19, etc.), is not to be explained by making David mean the promise to David, nor from the personal favour of which he was the object, but for his historical position as the great theocratic model, in whom it pleased God that the old economy should reach its culminating point, and who is always held up as the type and representative of the Messiah, so that all the intervening kings are mere connecting links, and their reigns mere repetitions and continuations of the reign of David, with more or less resemblance as they happened to be good or bad. Hence the frequency with which his name appears in the later Scriptures, compared with even the last of his successors, and the otherwise inexplicable transfer of that name to the Messiah himself. Joseph Addison Alexander.
Ver. 10. For thy servant David's sake. When Sennacherib's army lay around Jerusalem besieging it, God brought deliverance for Israel partly out of regard to the prayer of the devout Hezekiah, but partly also out of respect for the pious memory of David, the hero king, the man after God's own heart. The message sent through Isaiah to the king concluded thus: "Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake": 2Ki 19:32-34. What a respect is shown to David's name by its being thus put on a level with God! Mine own sake, and David's sake. Alexander Balmain Bruce, in "The Galilean Gospel", 1882.
Ver. 10. Turn not away the face, etc. As if in displeasure, or in forgetfulness. Albert Barnes.
Ver. 10. Thine anointed. What is meant by "thine anointed"? Is it David himself; or some definite king among his merely human descendants; or does it apply to each or any of them as they come into office to bear the responsibilities of this line of anointed kings? I incline to the latter construction, under which the petition is applicable to any one or to all the anointed successors of David. For David's sake let every one of them be admitted to free audience before thee, and his prayer be evermore availing. The context contemplates a long line of kings descended from David. It was pertinent to make them all the subjects of this prayer. Henry Cowles.
Ver. 10.
1. An evil to be deprecated: "Turn not away the face" so that he cannot see thee, or be seen of thee, or accepted, or allowed to hope.
2. A plea to be employed, "for thy servant David's sake" thy covenant with him, his zeal, his consecration, his afflictions, his service. Good gospel pleading, such as may be used on many occasions.
Psalms 132:11*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.