Ps 2:8 – TIPs

You shall break them with a rod of iron . . .

For “You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel,” see Revelation 2:27.

differing language registers for Psalm 2

In the 1852 translation of the Psalms into Javanese by Johann F.C. Gericke, the translator attempted to highlight the different voices and sections of the psalm by using different language styles or sociolects of Javanese. Ngoko , a “top-down” register, was used when senior people communicated to people junior in age or rank, and kromo , a “bottom-up” and more ornate register, was used to address superiors and elders. According to Gericke (quoted in Solleveld, cited below) “If one sought to use one and the same language in the entire Psalm, no Javanese would understand it. The difference between Kromo and Ngoko is often as big as between Dutch and Polish.”

In verse 1 and 2, the psalmist uses kromo
In verse 3, the enemies of the king in Zion and rebels use ngoko
In verse 4 and 5, the pslamist again uses kromo
In verse 6, God himself is quoted in ngoko, but in a style differing from that of the rebels
In the first half of verse 7, the anointed king speaks kromo
From the second half of verse 7 and verses 8 and 9, containing the words of the Lord to his Anointed One, ngoko is used again
In verses 10, 11, and 12, the psalmist uses kromo in his admonition to the rebels.

(Source: Floris Solleveld in A Tale of Two Translators from the Global Bible project)

Source for Javanese language registers and the different sections of Psalm 2.

Psalm 2 in Koti

Following is a translation of Psalm 2 into song in Koti, by Tarikhi Ya Haakhi. The Koti text is translated into English within the video.

Following is another rendition only verses 1 and 2 by the same team in the same language:

℗ 2025 Wycliffe Bible Translators South Africa NPC. Used with permission. Part of the Psalms that Sing project.

complete verse (Psalm 2:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 2:8:

Chichewa Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero translation, 2002/2016:
“Request me,
and I will make human races to be your inheritance;
the ends of the earth to be your wealth.” (Source: Chichewa Back Translation)
Newari:
“Just ask me,
I will make all the nations your inheritance,
[I] will make the whole earth yours.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“Ask/Request-of me that I will give to you (sing.) the nations at the ends of the earth/world
so-that you (sing.) will-possess-(them), and I will-do that.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Eastern Bru:
“If you ask of me, then I will make you the owner of all nations. And I will give you to oversee everything under the covering of this sky.” (Source: Bru Back Translation)
Laarim:
“Ask me
and I will give you all the nations here on earth,
so that you will inherit,
the land will be yours.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Uniombe,
mimi nitakuja kukupa makabila yote kuwa urithi wako,
na ufalme wa nchi yote utakuwa wako.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“Ask me to give you the nations,
so that they belong to you to rule over them permanently,
and I will give them to you.
Even the most remote nations will be yours.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

gentiles / nations

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).

Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).

In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Psalm 2:8

Ask of me means “Ask me to give you.” In some languages it may be better to translate “Ask me to give you all the lands of the earth and I will do so.” Or else, as a conditional, “If you ask me, I will give you….”

Here God promises the king universal dominion, authority over all the nations (same word as in verse 1). The phrase the ends of the earth means “all the earth,” “from one end of the earth to the other” (see 22.27; 48.10; 59.13). Line b, ends of the earth, represents the use of a metaphor following a nonmetaphor in line a. The meaning is essentially the same, but in the rhetorical use of parallelism, the more vivid expression is kept for the second line.

Heritage is a term often used in the Old Testament of what God gives his people; it involves the idea of permanent possession. Many times it refers to the land of Canaan as Israel’s gift from God (see Deut 4.21); the word possession is similarly used (see Gen 17.8; Deut 32.49). The noun “heritage” and the verb “to inherit” do not, in a context like this, carry the meaning ordinarily associated with these terms, that is, of a gift or a right that is given someone at the death of the one who previously owned the gift or held the right. So Good News Translation translates “I will give you.”

Because it is unnatural in many languages to “give” or “inherit” a social entity such as a tribe, it will often prove more satisfactory to say “to cause to rule the nations.” Likewise, asking for a favor often requires a response word. For example, “Ask me and I will say yes by making you rule over all tribes in the world. Indeed, you will own the whole world” or “… the whole world will be yours.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Psalm 2: Layer by Layer

The following are presentations by the Psalms: Layer by Layer project, run by Scriptura . The first is an overview and the second an introduction into the poetry of Psalm 2.