Serve ¹  the Lord in fear! Repent in terror! ² 

biblegateway Psa 2:11

Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.

Serve the LORD with reverential awe, and rejoice with trembling.

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

biblegateway Psa 2:11

Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling.

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

bibleoremus Psa 2:11

Serve the LORD with fear, with trembling

worship the LORD with reverence; tremble, and pay glad homage to the king, for fear the LORD may become angry and you may be struck down in mid-course; for his anger flares up in a moment. Happy are all who find refuge in him!

biblegateway Psa 2:11

Serve the LORD with fear, And rejoice with trembling.

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

biblegateway Psa 2:11

Serve ¹  the Lord in fear! Repent in terror! ² 

¹ tn The Hebrew verb translated “serve” refers here to submitting to the Lord’s sovereignty as expressed through the rule of the Davidic king. Such “service” would involve maintaining allegiance to the Davidic king by paying tribute on a regular basis.

² tn Traditionally, “rejoice with trembling” (KJV). The verb גִּיל (gil) normally means “rejoice,” but this meaning does not fit well here in conjunction with “in trembling.” Some try to understand “trembling” (and the parallel יִרְאָה, yir’ah, “fear”) in the sense of “reverential awe” and then take the verbs “serve” and “rejoice” in the sense of “worship” (cf. NASB). But רְעָדָה (rÿ’adah, “trembling”) and its related terms consistently refer to utter terror and fear (see Exod 15:15; Job 4:14; Pss 48:6; 55:5; 104:32; Isa 33:14; Dan 10:11) or at least great emotional distress (Ezra 10:9). It seems more likely here that גִּיל carries its polarized meaning “mourn, lament,” as in Hos 10:5. “Mourn, lament” would then be metonymic in this context for “repent” (referring to one’s rebellious ways). On the meaning of the verb in Hos 10:5, see F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Hosea (AB), 556-57.