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Christmas · The Nativity of Our Lord (Christmas Day) · Year A

Psalm 2

Today I Have Begotten You

December 25, 2025

The Anointing of David, Paolo Veronese
The Anointing of David, Paolo Veronese, c. 1555Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Samuel pours the horn over a kneeling boy while the older brothers look on in Venetian silk, as though at a court ceremony.You are my son; today I have begotten you: Psalm 2 is a coronation psalm, and this is the anointing it grew out of.Paolo VeroneseThe most sumptuous of the Venetian painters, hauled before the Inquisition for filling a Last Supper with dogs, dwarfs and drunkards, and who simply renamed the picture.Kunsthistorisches Museum, ViennaThe Habsburg collection, assembled over four centuries and housed in a purpose-built palace on the Ringstrasse since 1891.Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
LSB Three-Year Lectionary
GospelJohn 1:1-14 (15-18)Jn 1:1-14 (15-18)
EpistleHeb. 1:1-6 (7-12)Heb 1:1-6 (7-12)
Old TestamentIsa. 52:7-10Is 52:7-10
PsalterPs. 2Ps 2

Overview & Insights

“You are my Son; today I have begotten you.” (Psalm 2:7)

Psalm 2 carries no title and stands with Psalm 1 as the double gateway to the Psalter, the first commending the torah and the second the anointed king, so that the whole collection is framed by instruction and by royal hope. The poem is arranged as four speeches: the nations conspiring, the Lord laughing and answering from heaven, the king reciting the decree made to him, and the psalmist advising the rulers. The decree of v. 7 uses the language of adoption at an enthronement, with “today” marking a day of installation rather than of origin, and Acts 13:33 applies it to the resurrection. The closing lines are textually vexed, the Hebrew behind “kiss the son” (v. 12) being difficult enough that many translations emend it. Read on Christmas Day, a decree framed for a coronation is heard as spoken over a child.

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Take it further: Psalm 2

Commentary

Enduring Word Bible Commentary Psalm 2Enduring Word Bible Commentary Ps 2 Enduring Word · David Guzik

David Guzik on the Lord's Anointed and the decree 'You are my Son.'

Psalm 2 CommentaryPs 2 Commentary Precept Austin

Verse by verse evangelical exposition with word studies on the messianic psalm.

Psalm 2:1 CommentariesPs 2:1 Commentaries BibleHub

Classic commentators gathered on the raging nations and the King on Zion.

Background & Word Study

Psalms 2Ps 2 Sefaria

Hebrew text with classical Jewish commentary.

The Church Fathers

Psalms 2 - CatenaPs 2 - Catena Catena

Patristic comments from the church fathers gathered verse by verse.

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