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I was singing in a choir at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, Australia. One of the lyrics was as follows:

God will give him the throne of David, his father.

The Lord swore an oath to David;
He will not go back on his word:
'A son, the fruit of your body,
Will I set upon your throne.'

For the Lord has chosen Zion;
He has desired it for his dwelling:
'This is my resting place forever,
Here have I chosen to live.

'There David's stock will flower:
I will prepare a lamp for my anointed.
I will cover his enemies with shame,
But on him my crown shall shine.'

I felt bad for singing these lyrics without knowing what they meant, so my question is:

What do these verses mean?

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2 Answers 2

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These are excerpts from Psalm 132 (in the Catholic numbering), praising the fact that God chose to make His home in Jerusalem. Alternating the verse text with the psalm (in the New American Bible, Revised Edition translation), we get:

The Lord swore an oath to David,
he will not go back on his word:
'A son, the fruit of your body,
Will I set upon your throne.'

The LORD swore an oath to David in truth,
he will never turn back from it:
“Your own offspring I will set upon your throne." (Verse 11)

Next:

For the Lord has chosen Zion;
He has desired it for his dwelling:
'This is my resting place forever,
Here have I chosen to live."

Yes, the LORD has chosen Zion,
desired it for a dwelling:
This is my resting place forever;
here I will dwell, for I desire it. (Verse 13–14)

Finally: .

There David's stock will flower:
I will prepare a lamp for my anointed.
I will cover his enemies with shame,
But on him my crown shall shine.

There I will make a horn sprout for David;
I will set a lamp for my anointed.
His foes I will clothe with shame,
but on him his crown shall shine. (Verse 17–18)

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  • (+1) Thank you very much, sir! I hope I did not tire you, as I see you may have done a little bit of research (unless you remembered these Psalms from the top of your head – which would have been incredible). Although your answer merely rewords the phrases, I know what part of the Bible I must look into, in order to become familiar with this story =)
    – Mr Pie
    Commented Jul 27, 2018 at 14:47
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    @user477343 I knew I had seen the first line somewhere, and it didn't take long to put it together.
    – Matt Gutting
    Commented Jul 27, 2018 at 14:51
  • Since this is the Christianity Stack Exchange, I have tried to view this from a humble perspective. Doesn't my asking a question come across as using someone else to answer my question? Is that a bad thing? I am not quite sure if you know what I mean, but from how my parents have taught me, using people to gain self-benefit is bad. Or am I misunderstanding?
    – Mr Pie
    Commented Jul 27, 2018 at 14:55
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    @user Hit the +1 button and accepting the answer is the way you can give back, the point system on these sites is like a mini-economy. But you also benefit other people by asking questions because there's a good chance other people have the same question
    – Peter Turner ♦
    Commented Jul 27, 2018 at 17:26
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Psalm 132 is the direct answer, but some of Psalm 132 harks back to 2 Samuel chapter 7, especially verse 12,13:-

"I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and i will establish the throne of his kingdom forever."

In that his kingdom will be forever it is clearly referring to our Lord Jesus Christ.

In addition, where the Psalmist speaks of "Zion" we should understand it to mean "his people", and in this our day and generation "the Church". God delights in his people, the Church of all believers in our Lord Christ.

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