1. Why do nations rage, And peoples meditate vanity? 2. Kings of earth take a stand, And rulers take counsel together Against Yahweh and against his anointed: 3. “Let us break their bonds, And cast off from us their cords.” 4. He who sits in the heavens will laugh. Yahweh will deride them. 5. Then he will speak to them in his anger, And in his fierce wrath he will disturb them: 6. “And I have installed my king On Zion, the hill of my holiness.” 7. I will tell the decree. Yahweh has said to me, “My son are you. Today I have begotten you. 8. Ask from me, and I will give you nations as your inheritance, And as your possession the ends of earth. 9. You shall break them with a rod of iron. Like the vessel of a potter you shall shatter them.” 10. And now, O kings, be prudent. Be instructed, O judges of earth. 11. Serve Yahweh with fear, And rejoice with trembling. 12. Kiss the son, lest he be angry And you perish in the way, When his anger will kindle a little. Blest is everyone of those who take refuge in him.
The psalm has no heading that assigns authorship, but in Acts 4:25 the church in Jerusalem attributes it to David. The content of the psalm also makes it very likely that David was the author.
The psalm has four stanzas of three verses each, and in each of the stanzas a different speaker is prominent. In the first stanza the nations rage against Yahweh and his anointed: “Let us break their bonds…” In the second Yahweh responds to this raging: “I have set my king on Zion.” In the third the Son of Yahweh, the anointed, tells Yahweh’s decree about himself: “You are my Son…” In the final stanza the psalmist advises kings and judges to be wise and submit to this Son. Thus they will be blest.
Verse 7
Paul interpreted verse 7 as a prophecy of the resurrection of Christ. “God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten you (Acts 13:33).” It was through and because of his resurrection that Jesus inherited all nations.
Verse 9
Revelation 2:27, 12:5 and 19:15 indicate that the rule of Christ from the right hand of God fulfills this verse. They all refer to him ruling the nations with a rod of iron, and 2:27 continues the quotation into the next lines.
Christology
“And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, ‘Lord, thou [art] God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, ‘Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.’ For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.’” Acts 4:25-28