Psalm 2:7

tn The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.

tn Or “I will relate the decree. The Lord said to me” (in accordance with the Masoretic accentuation).

sn ‘You are my son!’ The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26–27). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184–203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.