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Psalm 2 · a question people ask

"You shall break them with a rod of iron" (2:9). Is the psalm only about the nations being broken?

In the text

The decree does say it: "You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel" (2:9) (tap rod). It also says, "Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession" (2:8). And the psalm doesn't end there. It speaks to the kings themselves: "Now therefore be wise, you kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth" (2:10), "Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling" (2:11). Its last verse holds a warning and a welcome together: "lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled" (2:12), and "Blessed are all those who take refuge in him" (2:12). Both are in the psalm, and these notes don't soften either one.

The verses

“Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore be wise, you kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.”
Psalm 2:8-12 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 2

Psalm 2: Why do the nations rage?

The son of "You are my son" (2:7) and the Son of "Give sincere homage to the Son" (2:12) are two Hebrew words, ben and bar. And the set of "I have set my King" (2:6) is a verb Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "set, install" in only two verses. The first believers prayed this psalm about Jesus (Acts 4:25-27).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions