Psalm 2

Text: 77 77 D (MCPC, 2012 — with a few phrases from the Book of Psalms for Singing, 1973)

1 Why do heathen nations rage? Why do peoples plot in vain?
2 Kings and rulers join to wage war against God’s royal reign.
Yes, against the LORD most high and against Messiah’s sway,
3 “Let us burst their bonds,” they cry, “let us cast their cords away.”

4 He who sits in heaven laughs; God the LORD derides them all.
5 Then he’ll speak to them in wrath, terror on them all will fall:
6 “Yet according to my will, I have set my King to reign,
for on Zion’s holy hill, my Anointed I’ll maintain.”

7 I will tell of his decree: unto me the LORD did say,
“You are now a Son to me, I’ve begotten you today.
8 Ask, and for your heritage I’ll give nations near and far.
9 You’ll break them with iron rod, smash them like a potter’s jar.

10 Therefore, kings, be wise, give ear! Be warned, rulers of the earth.
11 Come and serve the LORD with fear; mingle trembling with your mirth.
12 Kiss the Son before he comes, lest you perish in the way,
for his anger quickly burns; blest are all who in him stay.

Tune: Salzburg (Hintze), Jakob Hintze, 1662-1702

Commentary

Psalm 2 matches neatly with Psalm 1 in the opening of the Psalter. Psalm 1 looked at “the blessed man” who delights in the law of the LORD. Psalm 2 concludes by saying that the man who trusts in the Son is blessed. In other words, if you would be blessed, then you need to “kiss the Son” and take refuge in him.

Structure:

Psalm 2 is clearly structured in four stanzas: 1) the raging of the nations; 2) the terrifying laughter of God; 3) the LORD’s decree of the Messiah’s Sonship; and 4) the warning to the nations. Any metrical version must maintain this four-fold structure, or it abandons all hope of communicating the basic message of the Psalm.

Translation Notes:

Since 2 Samuel 7 says that God will adopt the son of David and establish the throne of David forever, it is clear that Psalm 2 was written with that in view. It certainly would have been appropriate for the sons of David to have this sung at their coronation (as some scholars have suggested) — although it is also clear that each of those sons of David fell far short of the terrifying glory of the Son of Psalm 2. (In fact, it is entirely possible, given the use of the Aramaic “bar” in place of “ben” (Son) in verses 7 and 12, that Psalm 2 was only written during the exile). Either way, Psalm 2 clearly points beyond the feeble and puny kingdom of Judah to the glorious kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, I object to all the attempts in some metrical versions to minimize the Christological language of this Psalm. Larry Wilson deserves much of the credit for the revised text — and even where we have not followed him, we agreed with him that the prior text from the Book of Psalms for Singing needed a lot of work (only a handful of phrases remain from the BPS text).

We have worked hard to maintain as many phrases from the ESV (our standard translation) in order to help people connect the metrical version with the version they read and hear:

Metrical: “Why do heathen nations rage? Why do peoples plot in vain?” (v1)
ESV: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?”

Metrical: “Let us burst their bonds, they cry, let us cast their cords away.” (v3)
ESV: “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us”

Metrical:”He who sits in heaven laughs; God the Lord derides them all.” (v4)
ESV: “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.”

Metrical: “”You are now a Son to me, I’ve begotten you today” (v7)
ESV: “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”

Tune Notes:

Salzburg (Hintze) has a robust opening line that matches well the opening of each of the four stanzas:

1) the opening challenge of the nations
2) the terrifying laughter of God
3) the announcement of the Lord’s decree
4) the warning to the nations

In the third line, it turns to the minor — a contrasting feel (with a little more dissonance and the rising melody line of the third line provides some rising tension) — resolving in the melodic arc of the fourth line which again is appropriate again in all four stanzas:

1) it highlights the challenge against the LORD and his Messiah
2) it highlights God’s setting his King to reign according to his will
3) it highlights the offered inheritance
4) it highlights the call to kiss the Son

Salzburg (Hintze) is used by the RPCNA in both the BPS and the BPW.

Conclusion

Monsey Chapel (from the CRC Psalter Hymnals) and St. George’s Windsor (from the Complete Book of Psalms for Singing and the RCNZ’s Sing to the LORD) are both in 77 77D — so I am optimistic that we will have a very good text for Psalm 2.

For my sermon on Psalm 2 — please see http://peterwallace.org/sermons/Ps02.htm

— Peter J. Wallace