Mazmur 2:1-3

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 

2:2 The kings of the earth ⁸  form a united front; ⁹ 

the rulers collaborate ¹⁰ 

against the Lord and his anointed king. ¹¹ 

2:3 They say, ¹²  “Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us! ¹³ 

Let’s free ourselves from ¹⁴  their ropes!”

Mazmur 83:3-11

83:3 They carefully plot ¹⁵  against your people,

and make plans to harm ¹⁶  the ones you cherish. ¹⁷ 

83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation! ¹⁸ 

Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”

83:5 Yes, ¹⁹  they devise a unified strategy; ²⁰ 

they form an alliance ²¹  against you.

83:6 It includes ²²  the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,

Moab and the Hagrites, ²³ 

83:7 Gebal, ²⁴  Ammon, and Amalek,

Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre. ²⁵ 

83:8 Even Assyria has allied with them,

lending its strength to the descendants of Lot. ²⁶  (Selah)

83:9 Do to them as you did to Midian ²⁷  –

as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River! ²⁸ 

83:10 They were destroyed at Endor; ²⁹ 

their corpses were like manure ³⁰  on the ground.

83:11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, ³¹ 

and all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna, ³² 

[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.

[2:2]  ⁸ 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.

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Or “take their stand.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes their action as underway.

[2:2]  ¹⁰ 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).

[2:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and against his anointed one.” The Davidic king is the referent (see vv. 6-7).

[2:3]  ¹² tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The quotation represents the words of the rebellious kings.

[2:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “their (i.e., the Lord’s and the king’s) shackles.” The kings compare the rule of the Lord and his vice-regent to being imprisoned.

[2:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “throw off from us.”

[83:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they make crafty a plot.”

[83:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and consult together against.”

[83:3]  ¹⁷ tn The passive participle of the Hebrew verb צָפַן (tsafan, “to hide”) is used here in the sense of “treasured; cherished.”

[83:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “we will cause them to disappear from [being] a nation.”

[83:5]  ¹⁹ tn Or “for.”

[83:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they consult [with] a heart together.”

[83:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[83:6]  ²² tn The words “it includes” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[83:6]  ²³ sn The Hagrites are also mentioned in 1 Chr 5:10, 19-20.

[83:7]  ²⁴ sn Some identify Gebal with the Phoenician coastal city of Byblos (see Ezek 27:9, where the name is spelled differently), though others locate this site south of the Dead Sea (see BDB 148 s.v. גְּבַל; HALOT 174 s.v. גְּבַל).

[83:7]  ²⁵ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[83:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they are an arm for the sons of Lot.” The “arm” is here a symbol of military might.

[83:8]  sn The descendants of Lot were the Moabites and Ammonites.

[83:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “do to them like Midian.”

[83:9]  ²⁸ sn The psalmist alludes here to Gideon’s victory over the Midianites (see Judg 7-8) and to Barak’s victory over Jabin’s army, which was led by his general Sisera (Judg 4-5).

[83:10]  ²⁹ sn Endor is not mentioned in the accounts of Gideon’s or Barak’s victories, but both battles took place in the general vicinity of the town. (See Y. Aharoni and M. Avi-Yonah, The Macmillan Bible Atlas, 46, 54.) Because Sisera and Jabin are mentioned in v. 9b, many understand them to be the subject of the verbs in v. 10, though they relate v. 10 to Gideon’s victory, which is referred to in v. 9a, 11. (See, for example, Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 263.)

[83:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “they were manure.” In addition to this passage, corpses are compared to manure in 2 Kgs 9:37; Jer 8:2; 9:21; 16:4; 25:33.

[83:11]  ³¹ sn Oreb and Zeeb were the generals of the Midianite army that was defeated by Gideon. The Ephraimites captured and executed both of them and sent their heads to Gideon (Judg 7:24-25).

[83:11]  ³² sn Zebah and Zalmunna were the Midianite kings. Gideon captured them and executed them (Judg 8:1-21).