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NASB | Psalm 2:12 Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Psalm 2:12 Kiss (pay respect to) the Son, so that He does not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled and set aflame. How blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] are all those who take refuge in Him! |
Subject: Is NASB the "most literal" in Ps. 2:12? |
Bible Note: Greetings Waldo! Your question got me interested in looking into this verse more. It turns out that it is a very difficult verse to translate for several reasons. I don't normally cut and paste "expert" material, but I thought you might find this passage interesting. It is from Derek Kidner's Tyndale Old Testament Commentary on Psalms 1-72, published by Inter-Varsity Press. Dr. Kidner writes: "The four Hebrew words that span the verse-divison have been a problem to translators from early times, but the general sense is plain, that this is a call to submit to Yahweh and His Anointed with the kiss of homage. 'Rejoice with trembling' (AV, RV, LXX, Vulg.) conjures up a startling yet quite appropriate mixture of emotions in face of serving so great a king (cf., e.g., Hab. 3:16, 18). But Dahood's suggestions that 'gil' ('rejoice') can mean 'live' offers an easier translation ('live in trembling') without changing the text. By contrast, 'Kiss his feet' (RSV, JB) is based on the precarious conjecture that the Hebrew terms here for 'rejoice' and 'son' (?) are the scattered fragments of a single word, 'on-his-feet'; and NEB mg. 'kiss the mighty one' evidently makes the assumption that the word 'rab' (mighty) has been spelt backwards as 'bar' (son). LXX, followed by Vulg., makes matters no clearer with its 'take hold of discipline', which cannot be extractedfrom our Hebrew text. 'The son' (AV, RV) is, however, a very doubtful translation, since the definite article is lacking, and 'kiss son' would be as awkward in Hebrew as in English. Further, it is in Aramaic that this word 'bar' means 'son'. In Hebrew it means 'pure', and if this (or 'bor', 'purity') may be taken adverbially it will make the phrase a command to 'kiss sincerely', i.e., 'pay true homage'. This seems the best solution. Although 'the son' is apparently not mentioned in this verse, verses 7ff. have already used the title and left no doubt of its implications." (Kidner, pp. 52-53.) So, the best way to translate this verse seems to be very much up in the air, though the sense is clear enough! Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |