5:1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron saying, “Look, we are your very flesh and blood! 6
2:1 Why 9 do the nations rebel? 10
Why 11 are the countries 12 devising 13 plots that will fail? 14
2:2 The kings of the earth 15 form a united front; 16
the rulers collaborate 17
against the Lord and his anointed king. 18
2:3 They say, 19 “Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us! 20
Let’s free ourselves from 21 their ropes!”
2:4 The one enthroned 22 in heaven laughs in disgust; 23
the Lord taunts 24 them.
37:23 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?
At whom have you shouted
and looked so arrogantly? 25
At the Holy One of Israel! 26
1 tn Heb “So will God do to Abner and so he will add to him.”
2 tc Heb “has sworn to David.” The LXX, with the exception of the recension of Origen, adds “in this day.”
3 tc The present translation follows the LXX, the Syriac Peshitta, and Vulgate in reading “I will save,” rather than the MT “he saved.” The context calls for the 1st person common singular imperfect of the verb rather than the 3rd person masculine singular perfect.
4 tn Heb “from the hand of.”
5 tn Heb “you were the one leading out and the one leading in Israel.”
6 tn Heb “look we are your bone and your flesh.”
7 tn The pronoun is plural, referring to Zadok and Abiathar.
8 sn Psalm 2. In this royal psalm the author asserts the special status of the divinely chosen Davidic king and warns the nations and their rulers to submit to the authority of God and his chosen vice-regent.
9 tn The question is rhetorical. Rather than seeking information, the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would have the audacity to rebel against God and his chosen king.
10 tn The Hebrew verb רָגַשׁ (ragash) occurs only here. In Dan 6:6, 11, 15 the Aramaic cognate verb describes several officials acting as a group. A Hebrew nominal derivative is used in Ps 55:14 of a crowd of people in the temple.
11 tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.
12 tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).
13 tn The Hebrew imperfect form describes the rebellion as underway. The verb הָגָה (hagah), which means “to recite quietly, meditate,” here has the metonymic nuance “devise, plan, plot” (see Ps 38:12; Prov 24:2).
14 tn Heb “devising emptiness.” The noun רִיק (riq, “emptiness”) may characterize their behavior as “worthless, morally bankrupt” but more likely refers to the outcome of their plots (i.e., failure). As the rest of the psalm emphasizes, their rebellion will fail.
15 sn The expression kings of the earth refers somewhat hyperbolically to the kings who had been conquered by and were subject to the Davidic king.
16 tn Or “take their stand.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes their action as underway.
17 tn Or “conspire together.” The verbal form is a Niphal from יָסַד (yasad). BDB 413-14 s.v. יָסַד defines the verb as “establish, found,” but HALOT 417 s.v. II יסד proposes a homonym meaning “get together, conspire” (an alternate form of סוּד, sud).
18 tn Heb “and against his anointed one.” The Davidic king is the referent (see vv. 6-7).
19 tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The quotation represents the words of the rebellious kings.
20 tn Heb “their (i.e., the
21 tn Heb “throw off from us.”
22 tn Heb “sitting.” The Hebrew verb יָשַׁב (yashav) is here used metonymically of “sitting enthroned” (see Pss 9:7; 29:10; 55:19; 102:12; 123:1).
23 tn As the next line indicates, this refers to derisive laughter. The Hebrew imperfect verbal forms in vv. 4-5 describe the action from the perspective of an eyewitness who is watching the divine response as it unfolds before his eyes.
24 tn Or “scoffs at”; “derides”; “mocks.”
25 tn Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?” Cf. NIV “lifted your eyes in pride”; NRSV “haughtily lifted your eyes.”
26 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
27 tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.
28 tn The double vocative suggests emotion.
29 sn Persecuting me. To persecute the church is to persecute Jesus.