Passage

Psalms 2.2

Book: Psalms · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. Why do the nations rage, And the peoples meditate a vain thing?"

"2. The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against Jehovah, and against his anointed, saying,"

"3. Let us break their bonds asunder, And cast away their cords from us. 4. He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh: The Lord will have them in derision." (Psalms 2:1-4, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?"

"2. The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,"

"3. “Let’s break their bonds apart, and cast their cords from us.” 4. He who sits in the heavens will laugh. The Lord will have them in derision." (Psalms 2:1-4, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? ^{rage: or, tumultuously assemble} ^{imagine: Heb. meditate}"

"2. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,"

"3. Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision." (Psalms 2:1-4, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. Why have nations tumultuously assembled? And do peoples meditate vanity?"

"2. Station themselves do kings of the earth, And princes have been united together, Against Jehovah, and against His Messiah:"

"3. 'Let us draw off Their cords, And cast from us Their thick bands.' 4. He who is sitting in the heavens doth laugh, The Lord doth mock at them." (Psalms 2:1-4, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
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Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.