Discovery BoxPsalms 2:2 
Context2:2 The kings of the earth 1 form a united front; 2
the rulers collaborate 3
against the Lord and his anointed king. 4
Psalms 2:6-8
Context2:6 “I myself 5 have installed 6 my king
on Zion, my holy hill.”
2:7 The king says, 7 “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: 8
‘You are my son! 9 This very day I have become your father!
2:8 Ask me,
and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, 10
the ends of the earth as your personal property.
1 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 tn Or “take their stand.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes their action as underway.
3 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).
4 tn Heb “and against his anointed one.” The Davidic king is the referent (see vv. 6-7).
5 tn The first person pronoun appears before the first person verbal form for emphasis, reflected in the translation by “myself.”
6 tn Or perhaps “consecrated.”
7 tn The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.
8 tn Or “I will relate the decree. The
9 sn ‘You are my son!’ The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26-27). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.
10 sn I will give you the nations. The
