Mazmur 2:1

Psalm 2 ¹ 

2:1 Why ²  do the nations rebel? ³ 

Why ⁴  are the countries ⁵  devising ⁶  plots that will fail? ⁷ 

Mazmur 33:10

33:10 The Lord frustrates ⁸  the decisions of the nations;

he nullifies the plans ⁹  of the peoples.

Mazmur 38:18

38:18 Yes, ¹⁰  I confess my wrongdoing,

and I am concerned about my sins.

Mazmur 66:18

66:18 If I had harbored sin in my heart, ¹¹ 

the Lord would not have listened.

Mazmur 106:33

106:33 for they aroused ¹²  his temper, ¹³ 

and he spoke rashly. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 116:10

116:10 I had faith when I said,

“I am severely oppressed.”

Mazmur 119:115

119:115 Turn away from me, you evil men,

so that I can observe ¹⁵  the commands of my God. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 119:148

119:148 My eyes anticipate the nighttime hours,

so that I can meditate on your word.

Mazmur 139:6

139:6 Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension;

it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it. ¹⁷ 

[2:1]  ¹ 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.

[2:1]  ² 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.

[2:1]  ³ 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.

[2:1]  ⁴ tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[2:1]  ⁵ tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).

[2:1]  ⁶ 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).

[2:1]  ⁷ 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.

[33:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “breaks” or “destroys.” The Hebrew perfect verbal forms here and in the next line generalize about the Lord’s activity.

[33:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “thoughts.”

[38:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[66:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “sin if I had seen in my heart.”

[106:33]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text vocalizes the form as הִמְרוּ (himru), a Hiphil from מָרָה (marah, “to behave rebelliously”), but the verb fits better with the object (“his spirit”) if it is revocalized as הֵמֵרוּ (hemeru), a Hiphil from מָרַר (marar, “to be bitter”). The Israelites “embittered” Moses’ “spirit” in the sense that they aroused his temper with their complaints.

[106:33]  ¹³ tn Heb “his spirit.”

[106:33]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew text adds “with his lips,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[106:33]  sn Verses 32-33 allude to the events of Num 20:1-13.

[119:115]  ¹⁵ tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[119:115]  ¹⁶ tn The psalmist has already declared that he observes God’s commands despite persecution, so here the idea must be “so that I might observe the commands of my God unhindered by threats.”

[139:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “too amazing [is this] knowledge for me, it is elevated, I cannot attain to it.”