Mazmur 2:1-6
Konteks2:1 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!”
2:4 The one enthroned 15 in heaven laughs in disgust; 16
the Lord taunts 17 them.
2:5 Then he angrily speaks to them
and terrifies them in his rage, 18 saying, 19
2:6 “I myself 20 have installed 21 my king
on Zion, my holy hill.”
Mazmur 76:10
Konteks76:10 Certainly 22 your angry judgment upon men will bring you praise; 23
you reveal your anger in full measure. 24
Mazmur 89:29-37
Konteks89:29 I will give him an eternal dynasty, 25
and make his throne as enduring as the skies above. 26
89:30 If his sons reject my law
and disobey my regulations,
89:31 if they break 27 my rules
and do not keep my commandments,
89:32 I will punish their rebellion by beating them with a club, 28
their sin by inflicting them with bruises. 29
89:33 But I will not remove 30 my loyal love from him,
nor be unfaithful to my promise. 31
89:34 I will not break 32 my covenant
or go back on what I promised. 33
89:35 Once and for all I have vowed by my own holiness,
I will never deceive 34 David.
89:36 His dynasty will last forever. 35
His throne will endure before me, like the sun, 36
89:37 it will remain stable, like the moon, 37
his throne will endure like the skies.” 38 (Selah)
[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
[2:3] 14 tn Heb “throw off from us.”
[2:4] 15 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).
[2:4] 16 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.
[2:4] 17 tn Or “scoffs at”; “derides”; “mocks.”
[2:5] 18 sn And terrifies them in his rage. This line focuses on the effect that God’s angry response (see previous line) has on the rebellious kings.
[2:5] 19 tn The word “saying” is supplied in the translation for clarification to indicate that the speaker is the Lord (cf. RSV, NIV).
[2:6] 20 tn The first person pronoun appears before the first person verbal form for emphasis, reflected in the translation by “myself.”
[2:6] 21 tn Or perhaps “consecrated.”
[76:10] 23 tn Heb “the anger of men will praise you.” This could mean that men’s anger (subjective genitive), when punished by God, will bring him praise, but this interpretation does not harmonize well with the next line. The translation assumes that God’s anger is in view here (see v. 7) and that “men” is an objective genitive. God’s angry judgment against men brings him praise because it reveals his power and majesty (see vv. 1-4).
[76:10] 24 tn Heb “the rest of anger you put on.” The meaning of the statement is not entirely clear. Perhaps the idea is that God, as he prepares for battle, girds himself with every last ounce of his anger, as if it were a weapon.
[89:29] 25 tn Heb “and I will set in place forever his offspring.”
[89:29] 26 tn Heb “and his throne like the days of the heavens.”
[89:32] 28 tn Heb “I will punish with a club their rebellion.”
[89:32] sn Despite the harsh image of beating…with a club, the language reflects a father-son relationship (see v. 30; 2 Sam 7:14). According to Proverbs, a שֵׁבֶט (shevet, “club”) was sometimes utilized to administer corporal punishment to rebellious children (see Prov 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14; 29:15).
[89:32] 29 tn Heb “with blows their sin.”
[89:33] 30 tn Heb “break”; “make ineffectual.” Some prefer to emend אָפִיר (’afir; the Hiphil of פָּרַר, parar, “to break”) to אָסִיר (’asir; the Hiphil of סוּר, sur, “to turn aside”), a verb that appears in 2 Sam 7:15.
[89:33] 31 tn Heb “and I will not deal falsely with my faithfulness.”
[89:34] 33 tn Heb “and what proceeds out of my lips I will not alter.”
[89:36] 35 tn Heb “his offspring forever will be.”
[89:36] 36 tn Heb “and his throne like the sun before me.”
[89:37] 37 tn Heb “like the moon it will be established forever.”
[89:37] 38 tn Heb “and a witness in the sky, secure.” Scholars have offered a variety of opinions as to the identity of the “witness” referred to here, none of which is very convincing. It is preferable to join וְעֵד (vÿ’ed) to עוֹלָם (’olam) in the preceding line and translate the commonly attested phrase עוֹלָם וְעֵד (“forever”). In this case one may translate the second line, “[it] will be secure like the skies.” Another option (the one reflected in the present translation) is to take עד as a rare noun meaning “throne” or “dais.” This noun is attested in Ugaritic; see, for example, CTA 16 vi 22-23, where ksi (= כִּסֵּא, kisse’, “throne”) and ’d (= עד, “dais”) appear as synonyms in the poetic parallelism (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 91). Emending בַּשַּׁחַק (bashakhaq, “in the heavens”) to כַּשַׁחַק (kashakhaq, “like the heavens”) – bet/kaf (כ/ב) confusion is widely attested – one can then read “[his] throne like the heavens [is] firm/stable.” Verse 29 refers to the enduring nature of the heavens, while Job 37:18 speaks of God spreading out the heavens (שְׁחָקִים, shÿkhaqim) and compares their strength to a bronze mirror. Ps 89:29 uses the term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim, “skies”) which frequently appears in parallelism to שְׁחָקִים.
