In verse 3 God is the speaker, which Revised Standard Version indicates by Thou hast said (also Good News Translation “You said”); it should be noted that the Hebrew text does not have these words here (see comments on verse 2, above). The psalmist recalls God’s promise to King David that the throne of Israel would always be occupied by a descendant of David’s (see 2 Sam 7.16, God’s message to David by the prophet Nathan). My chosen one in line a is a reference to David my servant in line b (see also verses 19-20). The translator cannot assume in every case that my chosen one and David my servant will be understood to be the same person. In order to avoid the reader’s thinking of these as two different persons, it may be necessary to say, for example, “I have made a covenant with David whom I chose, and what is more, I have sworn to be faithful to him.” For comments on covenant see 25.10.

In verse 4a the Hebrew “I will forever establish your seed” (see “descendants” and comments in 18.50) is to be understood in light of and build your throne for all generations in line b. It is not simply a promise that David will always have descendants, but that the Davidic dynasty will never end; descendants of David will always be the kings of Israel. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates the verse “I will ensure that your descendants will always succeed you as king.” It is to be noticed that in verse 2 the Hebrew verbs are “build … be firm,” and in verse 4 “be firm … build.”

Good News Translation‘s “preserve your dynasty” simply repeats line a in reference to the throne. Although the two lines appear to say much the same thing, the poetic movement is from establish your descendants, a somewhat abstract idea, to the more concrete image build your throne. Translations such as Biblia Dios Habla Hoy and Good News Translation translate the message of the verse, but sacrifice the poetic “going beyond” which is an integral part of the parallelism. The two lines as a unit may be rendered, for example, “Not only will I always make a descendant of yours to be king, I will also keep your dynasty forever” or “… I will make them rule after you forever.”

For Selah see 3.2.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .