Psalm 2:1-3

More of Psalm 2 on this sitePsalm 2:4-6 · Psalm 2:7 · Psalm 2:8-9 · Psalm 2:12

Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalThe first church prayed this psalm back to God after their first persecution: 'Lord, thou art God... who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage...' (Acts 4:24-25). They read 'his anointed' as 'thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed', against whom Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles and the people of Israel had gathered (4:27). 'Anointed' means Messiah, Christ: the man on whom the Spirit rested without measure. Their answer to the rage was not retreat but a request, that signs and wonders be done 'by the name of thy holy child Jesus' (4:30). The place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost (4:31).

JewishA royal psalm for the crowning of a Davidic king. The Talmud also applies it to the nations' last rebellion against God and His Messiah in the days of Gog and Magog (Avodah Zarah 3b).

CatholicFulfilled in the Passion, as Acts 4 reads it. The Church prays it as a messianic psalm.

ProtestantActs 4:25-27 makes the identification explicit: those who gathered against 'his anointed' were Herod, Pilate and the people.

OrthodoxA prophecy of the Passion and of the world's continuing rebellion against Christ.

DispensationalFulfilled in part at the cross. Its climax is the end-time rebellion of the nations, crushed at Christ's return (Rev. 19:19).

AcademicA royal psalm, probably for a coronation. With Psalm 1 it forms the gateway to the Psalter. It is read messianically at Qumran (4QFlorilegium) and often in the New Testament.