Psalm 2

God’s Promise to His Anointed

¹Why do the nations conspire,
   and the peoples plot in vain?
²The kings of the earth set themselves,
   and the rulers take counsel together,
   against the Lord and his anointed, saying,
³‘Let us burst their bonds asunder,
   and cast their cords from us.’

⁴He who sits in the heavens laughs;
   the Lord has them in derision.
⁵Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
   and terrify them in his fury, saying,
⁶‘I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.’

⁷I will tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to me, ‘You are my son;
   today I have begotten you.
⁸Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
   and the ends of the earth your possession.
⁹You shall break them with a rod of iron,
   and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’

¹⁰Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
   be warned, O rulers of the earth.
¹¹Serve the Lord with fear,
   with trembling ¹²kiss his feet,^*
or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way;
   for his wrath is quickly kindled.

Happy are all who take refuge in him.

⁵Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? ⁶I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. ⁷Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders^* of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ ⁸Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; ⁹and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ¹⁰And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, ¹¹from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. ¹²When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. ¹⁴I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings.

²²Then you shall say to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord: Israel is my firstborn son. ²³I said to you, ‘Let my son go that he may worship me.’ But you refused to let him go; now I will kill your firstborn son.” ’