Trajectory Table
Righteous Branch (Messianic Sprout)
14 stages
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The "Righteous Branch" (צֶמַח צַדִּיק) is a cluster of direct messianic prophecies — verbal divine commitments — that name the coming Davidic heir under a specific title and set of botanical images: tsemach (צֶמַח, "sprout, branch"; Isa 4:2; Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12), netser (נֵצֶר, "shoot, branch"; Isa 11:1), ḥōṭer (חֹטֶר, "rod, shoot"; Isa 11:1), and gezaʿ (גֶּזַע, "stump, stock"; Isa 11:1; cf. the stump-image, maṣṣebet, of Isa 6:13). The LXX renders tsemach as anatolē (ἀνατολή, "rising, dayspring, sprout") in the three royal-Branch oracles (Jer 23:5 LXX; Zech 3:8; 6:12 LXX; cf. Luke 1:78) — though not uniformly across the cluster (LXX Isa 4:2 uses the verb ἐπιλάμπω, and MT Jer 33:14-26 is absent from the Old Greek; where the Greek tradition carries it, v. 15 reads a different word, blastēma, "bud"). The title reaches forward to the one who fulfills the Davidic covenant's verbal pledge of an eternal throne (2 Sam 7:12-16) and is spoken by name in Zechariah 6:12 — "Here is a man whose name is the Branch" — a direct prophetic identification fulfilled in Jesus. This trajectory is most fundamentally a Promise-Fulfillment discharge: specific verbal commitments, progressively intensified across prophetic revelation, landing on a single Person. Within that spine runs a Longitudinal Theme — the botanical sprout-motif (seed → stump → shoot → righteous branch → root and offspring of David), one of the OT's most developed messianic title-trajectories — and a Redemptive-Historical Progression that moves from the Davidic covenant through monarchy, exile, and post-exilic restoration to Christ's incarnation and eschatological reign. The trajectory demonstrates escalation: while earthly Davidic kings failed to bring lasting righteousness, Christ as the ultimate Branch is Himself "The LORD Our Righteousness" (Yahweh Tsidkenu), providing imputed righteousness to all who trust in Him.
How this connects — Method
Promise-Fulfillment (primary) — The Righteous Branch texts are explicit verbal prophecies and direct messianic promises. Jeremiah 23:5-6 names the coming Branch "The LORD Our Righteousness"; Zechariah 6:12-13 pronounces the actual name of the coming man ("whose name is the Branch") and specifies his priest-king office; Romans 15:12 quotes Isaiah 11:10 as fulfilled prophecy of Gentile hope. These are not typological prefigurements with historical-correspondence escalation — they are verbal divine commitments identifying a specific Person by title, office, and effect. Also Longitudinal Theme — The botanical messianic vocabulary (tsemach / netser / ḥōṭer / gezaʿ / shōresh) develops across six centuries from the Davidic covenant through Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah to its NT culmination — a sprout-motif of distinct words, not a single verbal chain (Isa 11:1's nēṣer and Jer 23:5's tsemach share no lexeme; the idea outgrows its words) — one of the OT's most developed messianic title-trajectories, overlapping the Seed-promise spine (TT 143). Also Contrast (secondary) — the Branch oracles are framed by their own antithesis: Jeremiah 23:1-2's shepherds who scatter the flock are the foil against which the righteous Branch is promised (cf. TT 140, Contrast-primary on the rejected-king side; TT 041/042 likewise bill Contrast), and the failed kings' unrighteousness is answered by the King who is "The LORD Our Righteousness." Also Redemptive-Historical Progression — The Branch oracles mark successive redemptive-historical hinges (Davidic covenant → monarchic judgment → exile → post-exilic restoration → incarnation → eschatological consummation); each stage advances the storyline toward the promised Branch's appearing. Anti-default note: Earlier drafts classified this trajectory as Typology (Providential Type, Forward-Looking). That classification has been demoted — as a ranking, not an exclusion: type and prophecy keep pace in this material, but here prophecy leads. The Branch texts are direct prophecy by word (Zech 6:12 even speaks the name), grounded in the text's own promissory form: Christ does not fulfill the type of Jeremiah's righteous Branch as though the Branch-oracle were a prefiguring historical event; He is the righteous Branch in the verbally committed sense, and the escalation runs promise → accomplishment rather than shadow → substance. Per the precedent set in TT 143 Seed Promise (demoted from Typology to PF+LT+RHP for the same reason): a genealogical-verbal messianic title is not itself a type. Individual elements within the trajectory retain typological significance in their own dedicated TTs — the Davidic-kingship person/office type is held by TT 041 (with TT 042 at the kingdom level), where it passes all five Essential Characteristics; the decreed royal titles are traced in TT 043 as title-conferral under Promise-Fulfillment (TT 043 itself holds no person-typology and hands it to TT 041) — but the governing method of the Branch-vocabulary trajectory itself is promise-fulfillment. See also TT 140 Saul (Rejected King), which reads the Branch oracles (Isa 11:1-5; Jer 23:5-6) from the rejected-king/contrast side — the righteous Branch as the promise-side answer to every failed king-like-the-nations.
IDavidic Covenant — Eternal Throne Pledged to David's SeedDavidic Covenant
Texts
12And when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13He will build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14I will be his Father, and he will be My son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. 15But My loving devotion will never be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I moved out of your way. 16Your house and kingdom will endure forever before Me, and your throne will be established forever."
Canonical Intertextuality Pairs1
Foundation Texts1
IIPsalmic Meditation — The Horn Sprouts for DavidPsalmic Meditation
Texts
17There I will make a horn grow for David; I have prepared a lamp for My anointed one.
Foundation Texts1
IIIProphetic Anticipation — Branch of the LORD in Eschatological GloryProphetic Anticipation
Texts
2On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel's survivors.
Canonical Intertextuality Pairs1
- Jeremiah 23:5 to Isaiah 4:2 Supporting - Supporting / thematic: Jeremiah develops Isaiah's "Branch of the LORD" into the explicit "righteous Branch" who will reign as king and be called "The LORD Our Righteousness," intensifying both the royal and divine aspects of the prophecy. [Criterion 4: Core Prophetic Development; shared tsemach — thematic, not an anchor] — retained as a supporting thematic link rather than a CRITICAL one; the christological warrant runs through the NT-typological reading, not an OT→OT verbal one.
Foundation Texts1
IVProphetic Anticipation — Shoot from Jesse's Stump and Holy SeedProphetic Anticipation
Texts
13And though a tenth remains in the land, it will be burned again. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled, so the holy seed will be a stump in the land."
1Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
10On that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him, and His place of rest will be glorious.
Foundation Texts1
VProphetic Anticipation — Righteous Branch as King (Yahweh Our Righteousness)Prophetic Anticipation
Texts
5Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land. 6In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.
Foundation Texts1
VIProphetic Anticipation — Branch of Righteousness Reaffirmed Under SiegeProphetic Anticipation
Texts
15In those days and at that time I will cause to sprout for David a righteous Branch, and He will administer justice and righteousness in the land. 16In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely, and this is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.
Canonical Intertextuality Pairs1
- Jeremiah 33:14-22 to Jeremiah 23:5-6 - Jeremiah reaffirms his own prophecy with added emphasis on covenant certainty, grounding the Branch promise in God's unbreakable covenant with creation itself (day/night) and with David.
Foundation Texts1
VIIProphetic Anticipation — Cedar Sprig Planted on the Mountain HeightsProphetic Anticipation
Texts
22This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take a shoot from the lofty top of the cedar, and I will set it out. I will pluck a tender sprig from its topmost shoots, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 23I will plant it on the mountain heights of Israel so that it will bear branches; it will yield fruit and become a majestic cedar. Birds of every kind will nest under it, taking shelter in the shade of its branches. 24Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it.’”
Canonical Intertextuality Pairs1
- Luke 13:19 to Ezekiel 17:22-24 - Jesus' mustard-seed kingdom parable picks up Ezekiel's cedar-sprig oracle: the tender shoot Yahweh Himself plants grows into a tree in whose branches the birds of the air nest — small planting, cosmic shelter.
Foundation Texts1
VIIIPost-Exilic Anticipation — Servant the Branch and Atonement in a Single DayPost-Exilic Anticipation
Texts
8Hear now, O high priest Joshua, you and your companions seated before you, who are indeed a sign. For behold, I am going to bring My servant, the Branch. 9See the stone I have set before Joshua; on that one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave on it an inscription, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.
Canonical Intertextuality Pairs1
- Zechariah 3:8 to Jeremiah 23:5-6 CRITICAL - CRITICAL: Zechariah combines "Servant" and "Branch" titles, adding in the same oracle the LORD's promise to remove iniquity "in a single day" - pointing toward the once-for-all atonement that Jeremiah's prophecy implied but did not specify. [Criterion 4: Core Prophetic Development; Criterion 5: shared rare tsemach (H6780) - unifies Servant and Branch]
Foundation Texts1
IXPost-Exilic Anticipation — Branch Named by Name as Priest-KingPost-Exilic Anticipation
Texts
12And you are to tell him that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: 'Here is a man whose name is the Branch, and He will branch out from His place and build the temple of the LORD. 13Yes, He will build the temple of the LORD; He will be clothed in splendor and will sit on His throne and rule. And He will be a priest on His throne, and there will be peaceful counsel between the two.'
Canonical Intertextuality Pairs1
- Zechariah 6:11-14 to Jeremiah 33:14-18 - Zechariah's crowning of Joshua the high priest symbolically enacts the union of priesthood and kingship that Jeremiah 33's parallel promises of eternal Davidic and Levitical lines anticipated, finding their resolution in one person: the Branch.
Foundation Texts1
XNT Fulfillment — Dayspring from on High (Anatolē)Fulfillment
Texts
78because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the Dawn will visit us from on high, 79to shine on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Canonical Intertextuality Pairs1
- Luke 1:78 to Zechariah 6:12 - Zechariah's Benedictus names the arrived Branch: "the Dawn" (anatolē) from on high deploys the LXX's royal-Branch rendering of tsemach (Jer 23:5; Zech 3:8; 6:12) — the earliest identification of the arrived Branch in the Gospel narrative's chronology, spoken by a priest at the very moment the forerunner is named.
Foundation Texts1
XINT Fulfillment — Jesus the Nazarene (Netser)Fulfillment
Texts
23and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."
Canonical Intertextuality Pairs1
- Matthew 2:23 to Isaiah 11:1 CRITICAL - CRITICAL: Matthew's "Nazarene" wordplay connects Jesus' residence in Nazareth with Isaiah's netser (branch), demonstrating that even geographical details of Christ's life fulfill the prophetic pattern of glory emerging from apparent insignificance. [Criterion 1: Direct NT Reference — the nēṣer/Nazōraios link is cross-linguistic paronomasia (sound-play), not a shared-collocation verbal anchor]
Foundation Texts1
XIINT Fulfillment — Root of Jesse for the GentilesFulfillment
Texts
12And once more, Isaiah says: "The Root of Jesse will appear, One who will arise to rule over the Gentiles; in Him the Gentiles will put their hope."
Canonical Intertextuality Pairs1
- Romans 15:12 to Isaiah 11:10 CRITICAL - CRITICAL: Paul identifies Christ as the Root of Jesse who fulfills Isaiah's prophecy of Gentile inclusion, showing that the Branch's reign extends beyond ethnic Israel to embrace all nations who place their hope in Him. [Criterion 1: Direct NT Quotation; Criterion 3: Escalation - universal scope]
Foundation Texts1
XIIINT Inauguration — Christ Our RighteousnessInauguration
Texts
30It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.
Foundation Texts1
XIVEschatological Consummation — Root and Offspring of David ReignsEschatological Consummation
Texts
5Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed to open the scroll and its seven seals."
16"I, Jesus, have sent My angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star."
Canonical Intertextuality Pairs1
- Revelation 5:5 to Isaiah 11:1, 10 - The Root of David has conquered: the Root-of-Jesse vocabulary returns at the eschatological consummation, completing the trajectory's bookend — the Branch who sprouted in humility from Jesse's stump now reigns as the enthroned Lamb.
Foundation Texts1
Four-Step Application
1. What You Must Do
You must receive Christ as your righteousness. You must stop trying to produce the moral standing that only the Branch can provide. You must trust that His name—"The LORD Our Righteousness"—applies to you by faith.
2. Why You Can't Do It
You desperately want credit for your righteousness. The thought that your standing with God depends entirely on another Person's obedience is offensive to your pride. You keep wanting to contribute something—your sincerity, your effort, your growth. But every attempt to add to Christ's righteousness reveals that you don't really believe it's enough.
3. How He Did It
The Branch came forth from Jesse's stump when the Davidic line looked dead. He grew up in despised Nazareth—glory from insignificance. He was anointed with the sevenfold Spirit (Isaiah 11:2). He executed perfect justice and righteousness. And then He removed "the iniquity of this land in a single day" (Zechariah 3:9)—the day of His death, the day He bore our sins, the day He became our righteousness. The shoot from the stump became the source of righteousness for all who trust Him.
4. How Through Him You Can
Because Christ became "for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption," you can stand before God in His righteousness. Not your moral improvement but His perfect obedience. Not your best efforts but His finished work. The Branch's name becomes your status: "The LORD Our Righteousness." And this righteousness cannot be lost because it was never earned by you in the first place. The stump looked dead, but the shoot came forth. And in that shoot, you have found everything you need.
And more than everything you need — the One you were made to see. "On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious" (Isaiah 4:2): the righteousness reckoned to you is not a ledger-entry to bank but a Person to behold and relish — the Dawn who "will visit us from on high, to shine on those who live in darkness" (Luke 1:78-79), "the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star" (Revelation 22:16). Stand on the imputed righteousness — that ground never moves — and from that ground, look at Him until the standing becomes delight: "we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18). The imputation is the floor; the beholding is the feast.
Across the whole trajectory
Lexicon Findings
The Righteous Branch trajectory traces a sustained botanical image, carried by several distinct words, across redemptive history — from the Davidic covenant through its LXX Greek intermediary to NT fulfillment. The Hebrew foundation rests on a cluster of botanical terms: tsemach (צֶמַח, H6780) "sprout, branch, growth" — the standing prophetic term for the coming Messiah (Isa 4:2; Jer 23:5-6; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12) — and its verbal form tsāmaḥ / hiṣmîaḥ ("cause to sprout," Ps 132:17; Jer 33:15); netser (נֵצֶר, H5342) "shoot, branch" (Isa 11:1), the lexical pivot behind Matthew's "Nazarene"; ḥōṭer (חֹטֶר, H2415) "rod, shoot" (Isa 11:1); and gezaʿ (גֶּזַע, H1503) "stump, stock" (Isa 11:1; cf. the stump-image, maṣṣebet, of Isa 6:13), with shōresh (שֹׁרֶשׁ, H8328) "root" (Isa 11:10). These intertwine with tsedeq (צֶדֶק, H6664) "righteousness," particularly in the compound title "tsemach tsaddiq" (Jer 23:5) and the divine name "Yahweh Tsidkenu" (Jer 23:6), identifying the Branch with Yahweh Himself. The Davidic covenant employs zeraʿ (זֶרַע, H2233) "seed, offspring" (2 Sam 7:12), the generational base on which the Branch vocabulary is built. The LXX renders tsemach as anatolē (ἀνατολή, G395) "rising, dawn, dayspring" in the three royal-Branch oracles (Jer 23:5 LXX; Zech 3:8; 6:12 LXX) — though not uniformly across the cluster (LXX Isa 4:2 uses the verb ἐπιλάμπω, and MT Jer 33:14-26 is absent from the Old Greek; where the Greek tradition carries it, v. 15 reads a different word, blastēma, "bud") — the precise term Luke 1:78 deploys at the forerunner's naming, providing the earliest identification of the arrived Branch in the Gospel narrative's chronology. Ánthos (ἄνθος, G438) "flower/blossom" also renders Isa 11:1 LXX. The NT continues the botanical thread with rhíza (ῥίζα, G4491) "root" (Rom 15:12; Rev 5:5; 22:16), and dikaiosýnē (δικαιοσύνη, G1343) "righteousness, justification" (1 Cor 1:30) answers — in substance rather than by shared vocabulary, since LXX Jer 23:6 transliterates the name ("Josedek") — Jeremiah's promise that the Branch Himself becomes believers' imputed righteousness through union with Christ.
Key Lexical Threads:
- Hebrew: tsemach (tseh-MAHK) — Isa 4:2; Jer 23:5-6; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12; verbal ʾaṣmîaḥ — Ps 132:17; Jer 33:15. Netser (nay-TSER) — Isa 11:1 (messianic); full OT distribution Isa 11:1; 14:19; 60:21 ("the branch of my planting," nēṣer maṭṭaʿay). Ḥōṭer (KHO-ter), gezaʿ (GEH-za), shōresh (SHO-resh) — Isa 11:1, 10.
- LXX: anatolē (ah-na-toh-LAY) — the LXX's rendering of tsemach in the three royal-Branch oracles; ánthos (AN-those) — Isa 11:1 LXX.
- NT: rhíza (REE-za) — NT continuation of root/branch imagery (Rom 15:12; Rev 5:5; 22:16); anatolē at Luke 1:78 — the LXX Branch-vocabulary spoken at Christ's forerunner's naming; dikaiosýnē (dee-kye-oh-SOO-nay) — theological fulfillment of Yahweh Tsidkenu.
Lexicon References:
- H6780 — tsemach (צֶמַח) — sprout, branch, shoot (of Messiah from Davidic tree)
- H6779 — tsāmaḥ (צָמַח) — to sprout, spring up (the cognate verb; hiphil "cause to sprout," Ps 132:17; Jer 33:15)
- H5342 — netser (נֵצֶר) — shoot, branch (always figurative)
- H2415 — ḥōṭer (חֹטֶר) — rod, shoot, twig
- H1503 — gezaʿ (גֶּזַע) — trunk, stump, stock
- H8328 — shōresh (שֹׁרֶשׁ) — root
- H6664 — tsedeq (צֶדֶק) — righteousness (of Davidic king, Messiah)
- H2233 — zeraʿ (זֶרַע) — seed, offspring, descendants
- G438 — ánthos (ἄνθος) — flower, blossom
- G395 — anatolē (ἀνατολή) — rising, dawn, dayspring (LXX Branch)
- G4491 — rhíza (ῥίζα) — root, sprout, offspring
- G1343 — dikaiosýnē (δικαιοσύνη) — righteousness, justification
All Foundation Texts
Detailed exegetical analyses of each key passage in this trajectory, including Hebrew/Greek key terms, canonical connections, and Christological development.
- 2 Samuel 7:12-16 — Nathan's oracle to David establishing the Davidic covenant.
- Psalm 132:17 — Pilgrim-psalm of the Davidic covenant; verbal sprout (hiṣmîaḥ) promise for the horn of David.
- Isaiah 4:2 — First nominal use of tsemach as messianic title in the "day of the LORD."
- Isaiah 11:1-10 — Shoot from Jesse's stump; Spirit-anointed peaceable king; Gentile ingathering.
- Jeremiah 23:5-6 — Righteous Branch named "The LORD Our Righteousness"; divine-name identification of the coming king.
- Jeremiah 33:15-16 — Prison reaffirmation; Branch oracle doubled at the moment the dynasty visibly dies.
- Ezekiel 17:22-24 — Cedar-sprig oracle; Yahweh plants the tender shoot on the mountain heights.
- Zechariah 3:8-9 — Servant-Branch; atonement "in a single day."
- Zechariah 6:12-13 — Branch named by name; priest-king office enacted in Joshua's crowning.
- Matthew 2:23 — Jesus the Nazarene; nēṣer wordplay.
- Luke 1:78-79 — Anatolē, the Dawn; the earliest identification in the Gospel narrative's chronology using LXX Branch-vocabulary.
- Romans 15:12 — Root of Jesse for the Gentiles; Paul's quotation of Isa 11:10 LXX.
- 1 Corinthians 1:30 — Christ our righteousness; the Branch's title inaugurated in believers.
- Revelation 5:5 and 22:16 — Root and Offspring of David; eschatological consummation.
Branch-adjacent Foundation Texts in other trajectories (cross-references, not part of this trajectory's set):
- Zechariah 6:12-13 (Seed Promise) — the Branch oracle read from the seed-line resumption angle.
- Jeremiah 23:5-6 (Saul, Rejected King) — the Branch oracle read from the rejected-king contrast angle.
Intertextuality Pairs 24
- Acts 13:23 to Zechariah 6:12
- Ephesians 2:20-22 to Zechariah 6:12-13
- Hebrews 7:1-3 to Zechariah 6:13
- Hebrews 8:1-2 to Zechariah 6:13
- Jeremiah 23:5 to Isaiah 4:2
- John 2:19-21 to Zechariah 6:12-13
- Luke 1:78 to Zechariah 6:12
- Luke 13:19 to Ezekiel 17:22-24
- Matthew 2:23 to Isaiah 11:1
- Revelation 1:4 to Isaiah 11:2
- Revelation 1:13-16 to Isaiah 11:4
- Revelation 4:5 to Isaiah 11:2
- Revelation 5:5 to Isaiah 11:1, 10
- Revelation 5:5-10 to Zechariah 6:12-13
- Revelation 5:6 to Isaiah 11:2
- Revelation 22:16 to Isaiah 11:1-10
- Revelation 22:16-17 to Isaiah 55:1
- Romans 15:12 to Isaiah 11:10
- Zechariah 3:8 to Jeremiah 23:5-6
- Zechariah 6:11-14 to Jeremiah 33:14-18
- Zechariah 6:12 to Isaiah 11:1
- Zechariah 6:12-13 to Jeremiah 23:5-6
- Zechariah 6:12-13 to Psalm 110:4
- Zechariah 6:12-13 to Zechariah 3:8
Trajectory Tables 16
- Conquest of Canaan Trajectory Table
- David (The King After God's Own Heart) Trajectory Table
- Davidic Kingdom Trajectory Table
- Davidic Messianic Titles (Faithful Witness, Firstborn, Ruler of Kings) Trajectory Table
- Judah's Scepter (Until Shiloh Comes) Trajectory Table
- Nazirite Vow (Separation unto God) Trajectory Table
- Remnant (Faithful Few Preserved) Trajectory Table
- Return from Exile Trajectory Table
- Saul (Rejected King) Trajectory Table
- Seed Promise (Redemption Through Offspring) Trajectory Table
- Shepherd (Divine Shepherd Christology) Trajectory Table
- Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding Trajectory Table
- These Are the Generations of (Covenant Genealogy) Trajectory Table
- Trajectory Tables Index
- Vine and Vineyard (True Israel) Trajectory Table
- Zerubbabel (Royal Seed Rebuilding) Trajectory Table