What Does Psalm 2:3 Mean in the King James?
Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The revolt moves in two stages: first tearing the bonds loose, then flinging the cords away from the self.
THE MEANING
The voice in this verse names the LORD’s rule as restraint and answers with a shared vow to tear the bonds and hurl the cords away. Here, freedom is imagined as severance: whatever claims authority over the speakers must be removed from them.
THE ROOT
נְנַתְּקָה
nenatteqah
GROWS FROM
נתק
n-t-q
to tear apart or pull loose
English makes “break” sound like a general act of destruction, but נתק names the tearing apart of something fastened. The same root describes Samson snapping his bindings and God breaking prisoners’ bands; here, the speakers use that severing image for the LORD’s restraints.
ALSO GROWS
waynatteq: He tore the bindings loose.
וַיְנַתֵּק
The same verb describes Samson breaking free of the cords that hold him.
yenatteq: He breaks apart the bonds.
יְנַתֵּק
The same verb describes God breaking prisoners’ bands in Psalm 107:14.
מוֹסְרוֹתֵימוֹ
moseroteimo
GROWS FROM
אסר
ʾ-s-r
to bind or restrain
The root also forms words for a bound person and for what is bound or forbidden, so these bands name a condition of restraint, not just cords. The speakers treat the LORD’s claim as captivity and declare that they will tear it away.
ALSO GROWS
asir: A prisoner or captive.
אָסִיר
The word names a person by the state of being bound.
asur: Bound, restricted, or forbidden.
אָסוּר
This form keeps the root’s sense of restraint in an adjective.
וְנַשְׁלִיכָה
venashlikhah
GROWS FROM
שלך
sh-l-k
to throw or cast
“cast away” in this verse is venashlikhah. This verb adds forceful expulsion to the earlier tearing: the cords are not merely loosened but thrown away from the speakers. The verse’s motion goes from breaking what binds to casting it out of reach.
ALSO GROWS
vayyashlekh: And he cast or threw.
וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ
This form describes Aaron casting down his staff.
vattashlekh: And she cast or put down.
וַתַּשְׁלֵךְ
This form describes Hagar casting the child under a shrub.
THE PATTERN
Resistance to a ruler becomes collective speech and action against the claim to reign.
And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.THE THREAD
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.Both verses use נתק (nataq, to tear apart) for breaking bands. Psalm 2 gives the word to speakers casting off rule as restraint; Psalm 107 uses it for God breaking bonds and bringing people out of darkness and death.
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