1 Chronicles 17:17

And yet. — Samuel has the word here supplied in italics. David says, “My unlooked-for exaltation was not enough: thou hast also revealed to me the far future of my offspring.”

O God. — Here and at the end of the verse Samuel again has “my Lord, Jehovah.”

Also. — Samuel has this word in the text.

And hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree. — The Hebrew is obscure. Samuel has simply, “and this [is] the law of man, my Lord Jehovah.” The word “law” (tôrâh) has been supposed to mean manner or custom in this place, but it is not used in that sense elsewhere. Its strict sense is teaching. (Comp. Isaiah 8:16; Isaiah 8:20, where the oracles delivered to the prophet are called tôrâh.) The rendering therefore is, and this (thy gracious revelation) is a lesson to mankind. Our text demands one slight alteration, in accordance with this. Read tôrâh for tôr, and then we may translate: “and thou regardest me (LXX., ἐπεῖδές: comp. Luke 1:48) like man’s teaching (Psalms 32:8) that bringeth up (same verb, Ezekiel 19:2), O Lord God;” that is to say, Thy revelation is a part of my moral discipline, like the instruction which men give their children. David was not allowed to build the Temple, which was so far a check; but encouragement was added to the prohibition by the wisdom of his heavenly Teacher. If we might assume the other sense of tôrâh, we might render: and thou regardest me after the manner of men that exalteth, that is, as human benefactors help on those whom they favour. The old versions give no help.