Psalm 2 - verses 1&2: Why do the nations rage?

 Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, musée Condé, ms.65, f.45v

I want to continue my mini-series on Psalm 2 today with an offering for the second day of Christmas.

As I noted in the introduction, the opening verses of Psalm 2 will be very familiar to anyone who knows Handel's Messiah.  They are also interpreted for us by Scripture in Acts 4, which applies them to the treatment of Christ by the Roman and Jewish authorities.

As today is the feast of St Stephen we can see in these verses a reference to the Jewish leaders first attempts to suppress the Christian cult through his martrydom.  But of course, in the context of Christmas, the very first of the rebellious kings referred to in verse 2 is Herod, in his massacre of the Holy Innocents.

Verse 1: Why do the nations rage?

Looking at the translations

It is worthwhile, I think, to start by looking briefly at how the various translations differ. 

1	Vulgate/Neo-Vulgate/Romanus	Quare fremuérunt gentes: * et pópuli meditáti sunt inánia?
	Jerome's from the Hebrew	Quare turbabuntur gentes, Et tribus meditabuntur inania ?
	Septuagint	ἵνα τί ἐφρύαξαν ἔθνη καὶ λαοὶ ἐμελέτησαν κενά

A word by word breakdown for the Vulgate text is:

Quare (why) fremuérunt (they have raged) gentes (the peoples/nations): * et (and) pópuli (the people) meditáti sunt (they have devised/planned/contemplated) inánia (worthless/empty/vain) [things]?

Key vocab:

quare, adv.  interrogative, why? wherefore? from what cause? on what account?

fremo, ui, itum, ere 3  to rage, clamor

gens, gentis, people, nation, the chosen people, the Israelites; gentes, the heathen, the gentiles, i.e., all non-Jewish peoples.

populus, i,., people,  the chosen people; a heathen nation; warlike peoples

meditor, atus sum, ari, to think, plan, devise, meditate, contemplate, murmur

inanis, e, empty, vain, worthless; Empty: the Hebrew has longing. St. Jerome has vacua, empty; helpless, powerless. 

Douay-Rheims	Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things?
Brenton	Wherefore did the heathen rage, and the nations imagine vain things?
Monatic Diurnal	Why do the heathens rage and the peoples devise vain things?
RSV	Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain?
Coverdale	Why do the heathen so furiously rage together? and why do the people imagine a vain thing?
KJV	Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
Knox	What means this turmoil among the nations? Why do the peoples cherish vain dreams?
Grail	Why this tumult among nations, among peoples this useless murmuring?

Rage or turmoil?

The modern Latin neo-Vulgate here sticks with the older Latin traditions, while St Jerome's translation from the Hebrew makes some subtle changes reflected in the Knox and Grail translations, which convey the idea of disruption and turmoil rather than active plotting against the good.

That seems to me an unfortunate emphasis since the verb fremere  used here recurs only once in the psalms, in Psalm 111 (Sunday Vespers), where it has a very similar context to Psalm 2, viz the rebellion of the wicked in the face of God’s action:

Peccator videbit, et irascetur; dentibus suis fremet et tabescet : desiderium peccatorum peribit.  

The wicked shall see, and shall be angry, he shall gnash with his teeth and pine away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.

It is probably also relevant that St Mark uses the same Greek verb to describe (14:5) of Judas’ anger at Mary Magdalene’s use of expensive ointment.

The nations or the Jewish people?

Gentes (the plural of the noun) most often means gentile nations, or, all of the nations of the earth, and several of the translations reflect this.

The Fathers, however, generally interpret this case as a reference to the Jews, albeit acting in this case in collusion with the Romans, against Christ.   The verse arguably serves as rebuke to those who should have understood the numerous prophesies of the Messiah that Christ fulfilled.

Verse 2 picks up this theme.

Verse 2 - The text

2	V/NV//R/ NV	A(d)stitérunt reges terræ, et príncipes convenérunt in unum * advérsus Dóminum, et advérsus christum ejus.
	JH	consurgent reges terrae et principes tractabunt pariter  adversum Dominum et adversum christum eius
		παρέστησαν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες συνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κατὰ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ διάψαλμα

Word-by-word:

A(d)stitérunt (they stood up) reges (the kings) terræ,(of the earth) et (and) príncipes (the leaders/princes) convenérunt (they assembled) in unum (together) advérsus (against) dóminum (the Lord), et (and) advérsus (against) christum (the anointed) ejus (his).

Key vocab:

asto (adsto), stiti, are. stand,  to stand at, up, by, or near; to stand by the side of to help, to assist; to wait upon; to be, remain; challenge

rex, regis, m. (rego), a king, ruler; used frequently of men and of God. Of men, Of God, Of the Messias.

terra, ae, f  the earth, in both a lit. and a fig. sense.  orbis terrae, the world;  a country, esp. the Land of Israel

princeps, cipis, m.  prince, ruler, sovereign, leader

convenio, veni, ventum, ire, to come or meet together, to assemble.

unus, a, um, unius, uni, one. in unum = together, into a single group, in concert, unity

adversus or adversum, prep, with ace. against, in an unfriendly sense; Of position, in the presence of, over against, before.

Dominus, i, m. a master, lord, ruler, owner, possessor

Christus, i, m. (xpt(rr6s), Christ, the Messias, the Messianic King, 

is, ea, id,  he, she, it.

DR	The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Brenton	The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers gathered themselves together, against the Lord, and against his Christ;
MD	The kings of the earth rise up and the princes take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed.
RSV	The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and his anointed, saying
Cover	The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his Anointed.
KJV	The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
Knox	See how the kings of the earth stand in array, how its rulers make common cause, against the Lord, and against the King he has anointed,
Grail	They arise, the kings of the earth, princes plot against the Lord and his Anointed.

The leaders against the Church

The kings of the earth and princes means all leaders who stand against the Church, starting with Herod's attempt to murder the infant King, as St Benedict's contemporary Cassiodorus pointed out:

By kings of the earth the psalmist wants us to understand the Herod who in prosecuting the Lord murdered the Innocents, and the other Herod, his grandson, who with Pontius Pilate agreed on the death of the Saviour.  So they are rightly said to have stood up, for they shared the one crime with the harmony of sacrilegious minds.  The psalmist uses the word princes with reference to the Pharisees for the word princeps sometimes means kings and sometimes leaders, princeps literally meaning he who takes first place.  

Cassiodorus particularly, though, interpreted this verse as a reference to the crucifixion: the kings stand up not literally, but but rather than in taking their 'stand' against Christ:

Stood up denotes not physical presence but intention, for at His passion the Lord was clearly in no way in the presence of kings. 

And their assembly, he suggests, was in intent, not meaning physically in one place:

They met together not in one assembly but in one desire

Unity in evil

The verb convenire often has a negative connotation, of plotters coming together to do evil in Scripture (such as the murmerers against Moses and Aaron in Numbers 20:2), and the phrase convenerunt in unum is used in exactly this way in several other places, including to describe the plotting of the Pharisees to try and trap Jesus in Matthew 22:34.

Psalm 47 also uses the phrase, but this time the 'kings of the earth' are confronted with the sight of the new Jerusalem:

4  Quóniam ecce reges terræ congregáti sunt: * convenérunt in unum.	5 For behold the kings of the earth assembled themselves: they gathered together.
5  Ipsi vidéntes sic admiráti sunt, conturbáti sunt, commóti sunt: * tremor apprehéndit eos.	6 So they saw, and they wondered, they were troubled, they were moved: 7 Trembling took hold of them.

The verses have an ongoing application though, as St Liguori makes clear:

By these kings and princes are meant not only Herod, Pilate, and the chief priests of the Jews, but also all the emperors and all the kings of the Gentiles who have persecuted the Church of Jesus Christ. The prophet intimates thereby that the enemies in persecuting Christ have also made war against God; for the Messias, by his miracles had proved that he was the Son of God....

Dom Maurus Wolther, Abbot of Beuron in the nineteenth century, provided a more comprehensive list of those who rage against Christ:

Like the raging billows of the sea, the hostile legions press onward.  Already the prophet discerns the various leaders - in the background, he sees Herod, Pilate Nero, Julian, Mahomet; and, far in the distance, Antichrist; these stand also in his view, Judas Iscariot,Simon Magus, Arius, Photius, Frederick II the Staufer, Luther.

Dom Wolther argues monasteries will always be a particular target of such men, since in them all subject their will perfectly to Christ, standing always in opposition to the raging world of his enemies.

Psalm 2: Quare fremuérunt Gentes

Vulgate	Douay Rheims
Quare fremuérunt Gentes: * et pópuli meditáti sunt inánia?	Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things?
2  Astitérunt reges terræ, et príncipes convenérunt in unum * advérsus Dóminum, et advérsus Christum ejus.	The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord, and against his Christ.
3  Dirumpámus víncula eórum: * et projiciámus a nobis jugum ipsórum.	Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us.
4. Qui hábitat in cælis, irridébit eos: * et Dóminus subsannábit eos.	He that dwells in heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them.
5  Tunc loquétur ad eos in ira sua, * et in furóre suo conturbábit eos.	Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his rage.
6  Ego autem constitútus sum Rex ab eo super Sion montem sanctum ejus, * prædicans præcéptum ejus.	But I am appointed king by him over Sion, his holy mountain, preaching his commandment.
7  Dóminus dixit ad me: * Fílius meus es tu, ego hódie génui te.	The Lord has said to me: You are my son, this day have I begotten you.
8  Póstula a me, et dábo tibi Gentes hereditátem tuam, * et possessiónem tuam términos terræ.	Ask of me, and I will give you the Gentiles for your inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for your possession
9  Reges eos in virga férrea, * et tamquam vas fíguli confrínges eos.	You shall rule them with a rod of iron, and shall break them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
10  Et nunc, reges, intellígite: * erudímini, qui judicátis terram.	And now, O you kings, understand: receive instruction, you that judge the earth.
11  Servíte Dómino in timóre: * et exsultáte ei cum   tremóre.	Serve the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling.
12  Apprehéndite disciplínam, nequándo irascátur Dóminus, * et pereátis de via justa.	Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way.
13  Cum exárserit in brevi ira ejus: * beáti omnes qui confídunt in eo.	When his wrath shall be kindled in a short time, blessed are all they that trust in him.

And you can find the next part in this series here.

Introduction to Psalm 2

 British Library, Harley MS 603, folio 2r

Today I want to start a little mini-series, an offering for the twelve days of Christmas.

The series focuses on Psalm 2, which seems particularly appropriate for the season, and provides a good opportunity for us to reflect on the implications of the Incarnation for us.

In the Benedictine office, Psalm 2 is the second psalm of Monday Prime.

The structure and context of Psalm 2

Psalms 1, 2 and 3 are often interpreted as forming a block that introduces the whole book of psalms: Psalm 1 provides for us the model of the perfect man, Christ; Psalm 2 sets out his Incarnation and Passion; and Psalm 3 the Resurrection.

Most interpretators divide Psalm 2 into four parts: Verses 1-3 deal with the events leading up to the Passion; verses 4-6 the Second Coming and Judgment; verses 7-8 the Incarnation; and verses 9-13 are a call to right living under the kingship of Christ in the current age of the world.

The final verses of the psalm provide a series of instructions, particularly directed at those in position of authority, but applicable to all on how we should respond to God: listen to God’s teaching; serve the Lord with fear; accept correction; and most importantly, trust in God.

Reading Psalm 2: A prophecy of Christ, and of the calling of the nations 

Psalm 2: Quare fremuérunt Gentes

Vulgate	Douay Rheims
Quare fremuérunt Gentes: * et pópuli meditáti sunt inánia?	Why have the Gentiles raged, and the people devised vain things?
2  Astitérunt reges terræ, et príncipes convenérunt in unum * advérsus Dóminum, et advérsus Christum ejus.	The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord, and against his Christ.
3  Dirumpámus víncula eórum: * et projiciámus a nobis jugum ipsórum.	Let us break their bonds asunder: and let us cast away their yoke from us.
4. Qui hábitat in cælis, irridébit eos: * et Dóminus subsannábit eos.	He that dwells in heaven shall laugh at them: and the Lord shall deride them.
5  Tunc loquétur ad eos in ira sua, * et in furóre suo conturbábit eos.	Then shall he speak to them in his anger, and trouble them in his rage.
6  Ego autem constitútus sum Rex ab eo super Sion montem sanctum ejus, * prædicans præcéptum ejus.	But I am appointed king by him over Sion, his holy mountain, preaching his commandment.
7  Dóminus dixit ad me: * Fílius meus es tu, ego hódie génui te.	The Lord has said to me: You are my son, this day have I begotten you.
8  Póstula a me, et dábo tibi Gentes hereditátem tuam, * et possessiónem tuam términos terræ.	Ask of me, and I will give you the Gentiles for your inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for your possession
9  Reges eos in virga férrea, * et tamquam vas fíguli confrínges eos.	You shall rule them with a rod of iron, and shall break them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
10  Et nunc, reges, intellígite: * erudímini, qui judicátis terram.	And now, O you kings, understand: receive instruction, you that judge the earth.
11  Servíte Dómino in timóre: * et exsultáte ei cum   tremóre.	Serve the Lord with fear: and rejoice unto him with trembling.
12  Apprehéndite disciplínam, nequándo irascátur Dóminus, * et pereátis de via justa.	Embrace discipline, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the just way.
13  Cum exárserit in brevi ira ejus: * beáti omnes qui confídunt in eo.	When his wrath shall be kindled in a short time, blessed are all they that trust in him.

The Incarnation

It is worth starting our consideration in the middle of this psalm, with the seventh verse, since it forms the Introit for the first Mass of Christmas, proclaiming the Incarnation.

The date of the composition of the chant of the Introit is contested, but the use of the text itself at Christmas time goes back to at least the fourth century.



The declaration 'this day have I begotten thee' points us to a threefold mystery: the eternal generation of the Son from the Father; the Incarnation, and Christ's 're-birth' in the Resurrection.

In this Christmas season though, it is the second meaning that the Church particularly focuses on in the Introit in the Midnight Mass of Christmas, as St Cassiodorus explained:

Have I begotten thee signifies the nativity, of which Isaiah wrote: Who shall declare his generation?  He is Light from light, Almighty from Almighty, true God from true God, from whom and in whom are all things. 

The whole psalm, though, should be interpreted Christologically, as the psalm title  'A prophecy of Christ, and of the calling of the nations', attributed to Eusebius of Caesaria makes clear.

The Passion of Christ

The whole psalm, though, is relevant to the meaning of Christmas and it is for this reason that the opening verses of Psalm 2 will be familiar to many from their use in Handel's Messiah.



Handel's libretto here takes its cue from Acts 4, which provides a definitive context for the interpretation of the psalm, and so is worth reading through in full.  The relevant section takes places after Saints Peter and John are arrested for preaching the Resurrection:

...And it came to pass on the morrow, that their princes, and ancients, and scribes, were gathered together in Jerusalem [congregarentur principes eorum, et seniores, et scribæ, in Jerusalem]: And Annas the high priest, and Caiphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest.  And setting them in the midst, they asked: By what power, or by what name, have you done this?   

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said to them: Ye princes of the people [Principes populi] and ancients, hear:  If we this day are examined concerning the good deed done to the infirm man, by what means he hath been made whole: Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God hath raised from the dead, even by him this man standeth here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner.  Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved...

 But they commanded them to go aside out of the council; and they conferred among themselves, Saying: What shall we do to these men? for indeed a known miracle hath been done by them, to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: it is manifest, and we cannot deny it. But that it may be no farther spread among the people, let us threaten them that they speak no more in this name to any man....But Peter and John answering, said to them: If it be just in the sight of God, to hear you rather than God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.... And being let go, they came to their own company, and related all that the chief priests and ancients had said to them. 

Who having heard it, with one accord lifted up their voice to God, and said: Lord, thou art he that didst make heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.Who, by the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of our father David, thy servant, hast said: Why did the Gentiles rage, and the people meditate vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes assembled together against the Lord and his Christ.  For of a truth there assembled together in this city against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel,  To do what thy hand and thy counsel decreed to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants, that with all confidence they may speak thy word,  By stretching forth thy hand to cures, and signs, and wonders to be done by the name of thy holy Son Jesus.

As Acts makes clear, the kings and princes are those who plotted to kill Christ; their efforts were in vain, since by virtue of the Resurrection his message spread even more strongly - even in Acts 4 they decide to let the apostles go hoping that the whole thing might just go away even in the face of the miracles being done!

Verse 3 can be read either as the leaders of the world rejecting God's law, a burden they regard as too heavy, or as a call for us to reject their false laws, and choose instead the light yoke of Christ.

Psalm 2 in the Benedictine Office

In St Benedict's Office, the psalm is the second psalm of Prime on Monday, and fits well with the theme of Christ's kingship that runs through this hour.

The injunction to ‘serve the Lord with fear and trembling’(v11) provides the antiphon for Monday Prime and is particularly important in Benedictine spirituality as the first step on the ladder of humility (RB 7).  It can perhaps be seen as part of the preparation for the weekly renewal of monastic vows in the Suscipe verse said at Terce.

St Benedict also quotes this verse in his instructions on how to approach the liturgy (RB 19), where St Benedict talks about the sense of ‘reverence and awe’ we should cultivate when saying the Office.

Other liturgical uses of the psalm

NT refs	Acts 4:25-28 (v1-2); Rev 11:15 (v2, 6); Mt 3:17 (v7); Acts 13:33 (v7); Heb 1:5, 5:5 (v7); Rev 2: 26-7; 12:5; 19:15 (v9); Rev 17: 18 (v10); 2 Cor 7:15; Heb 12:28(v11)
RB cursus	Monday Prime+AN (v11) 4876
Monastic  feasts etc	Whole psalm: Nativity, Easter Sunday, Christ the King, Common of several martyrs Good Friday Tenebrae AN: 1635, 4359, 4341, 4342, 4875
Roman pre 1911	Sunday Matins
Matins responsories	600155, 7642,
Other early Offices
Ambrosian
Brigittine	Sunday Matins
Maurist	Sunday Matins
Thesauris schemas	A: Sunday Matins wk 1; B: Monday Matins; C: Sunday None; D: Saturday Mati
Roman post 1911	1911-62:Sunday Matins . 1970: Sunday readings
Byzantine	Kathisma 1/stasis 1
Mass propers (EF)	Nativity: IN 7; Friday/Sat after Ash Wednesday, CO 11-12; Ember Friday of Lent, CO 11; Sat Lent 2, CO 11-12; Christ the King, OF 8.

And for verse by verse notes on this psalm:

Verses 1&2: Why do the nations rage?

Verse 3: The yoke of grace

Verses 4&5: Can we mock evil-doers?

Verse 6: The proclamation of Christ the King

Verse 7: This day have I begotten you

Verse 8: Ask of me

Verse 9: King or shepherd?

Verse 10: On overcoming our faults

Verse 11: Work out your salvation in fear and trembling

Verse 12: Practice obedience

Verse 13: Put your trust in God

Conclusion: Psalm 2 in the Benedictine Office