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Bishop's Bible

Psalms 2:9

Thou shalt bruise them with a rod of iron: and breake them in peeces like a potters vessell.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Iron;   Jesus, the Christ;   Power;   Quotations and Allusions;   Scepter (Sceptre);   Wicked (People);   Scofield Reference Index - Christ;   Day (of Jehovah);   Kingdom;   Sacrifice;   The Topic Concordance - Government;   Jesus Christ;   Wrath;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Hatred to Christ;   Iron;   Kings;   Power of Christ, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Poetry of the Hebrews;   Potter;   Rod;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - David;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Christ, Christology;   War, Holy War;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Judgments of God;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Armour;   Iron;   Pottery;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Arms;   Bottle;   Iron (2);   Jeremiah;   Jesus Christ;   Messiah;   Pottery;   Rod;   Sceptre;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Iron;   Minerals and Metals;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - English Versions;   Kingdom of God;   Messiah;   Person of Christ;   Potter, Pottery;   Prophecy, Prophets;   Psalms;   Sin;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Potter ;   Psalms (2);   Rod;   Rufus;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Potter;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Rod;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Kingdom of christ of heaven;   Kingdom of god;   Kingdom of heaven;   Messiah;   Psalms the book of;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Iron;   Potter;   Rod;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Sceptre;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Accommodation;   Armor;   Asunder;   Bible, the;   Break;   Christ, Offices of;   Dash;   Iron (1);   Jesus Christ (Part 1 of 2);   King;   King, Christ as;   Names, Proper;   Potter;   Psalms, Book of;   Punishments;   Sceptre;   Text of the Old Testament;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Arms - armor;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Eschatology;   ḥaber;   Iron;   Pottery;   Revelation (Book of);  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
You will break them with an iron scepter;you will shatter them like pottery.”
Hebrew Names Version
You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
King James Version
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
English Standard Version
You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
New Century Version
You will rule over them with an iron rod. You will break them into pieces like pottery."
New English Translation
You will break them with an iron scepter; you will smash them like a potter's jar!'"
Amplified Bible
'You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall shatter them [in pieces] like earthenware.'"
New American Standard Bible
'You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'"
World English Bible
You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
Geneva Bible (1587)
Thou shalt krush them with a scepter of yron, and breake them in pieces like a potters vessell.
Legacy Standard Bible
You shall break them with a rod of iron,You shall shatter them like a potter's vessel.'"
Berean Standard Bible
You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery."
Contemporary English Version
You will smash them with an iron rod and shatter them like dishes of clay."
Complete Jewish Bible
You will break them with an iron rod, shatter them like a clay pot.'"
Darby Translation
Thou shalt break them with a sceptre of iron, as a potter's vessel thou shalt dash them in pieces.
Easy-to-Read Version
You will rule over them with great power. You will scatter your enemies like broken pieces of pottery!"
George Lamsa Translation
You shall shepherd them with a rod of iron; you shall break them in pieces like a potters vessel.
Good News Translation
You will break them with an iron rod; you will shatter them in pieces like a clay pot.'"
Lexham English Bible
You will break them with an iron rod. Like a potter's vessel you will shatter them."
Literal Translation
You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thou shalt rule them with a rodde of yron, and breake the in peces like an erthen vessell.
American Standard Version
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Bible in Basic English
They will be ruled by you with a rod of iron; they will be broken like a potter's vessel.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.'
King James Version (1611)
Thou shalt breake them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potters vessell.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces as a potter’s vessel.
English Revised Version
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thou schalt gouerne hem in an yrun yerde; and thou schalt breke hem as the vessel of a pottere.
Update Bible Version
You shall break them with a rod of iron; Like a potter's vessel, you shall dash them in pieces.
Webster's Bible Translation
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
New King James Version
You shall break Revelation 2:27).">[fn] them with a rod of iron;You shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.' "
New Living Translation
You will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots.'"
New Life Bible
You will break them using a piece of iron. And they will be broken in pieces like pots of clay."
New Revised Standard
You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thou shalt shepherd them with a sceptre of iron, - as a potter's vessel, shalt thou dash them in pieces.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, and shalt break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Revised Standard Version
You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."
Young's Literal Translation
Thou dost rule them with a sceptre of iron, As a vessel of a potter Thou dost crush them.'
New American Standard Bible (1995)
‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'"

Contextual Overview

7 I wyll declare the decree, God sayde vnto me: thou art my sonne, this day I haue begotten thee. 8 Desire of me, and I wyll geue thee the heathen for thyne inheritaunce: and the vttermost partes of the earth for thy possession. 9 Thou shalt bruise them with a rod of iron: and breake them in peeces like a potters vessell.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Psalms 21:8, Psalms 21:9, Psalms 89:23, Psalms 110:5, Psalms 110:6, Isaiah 30:14, Isaiah 60:12, Jeremiah 19:11, Daniel 2:44, Matthew 21:44, Revelation 2:26, Revelation 2:27, Revelation 12:5

Reciprocal: Genesis 22:17 - thy seed Exodus 15:6 - dashed Leviticus 15:12 - shall be broken Leviticus 25:44 - General Numbers 24:8 - break Judges 7:19 - brake 1 Samuel 2:10 - adversaries Job 34:24 - break Psalms 9:5 - rebuked Psalms 21:2 - General Psalms 31:12 - a broken vessel Psalms 45:4 - right Psalms 72:4 - break Psalms 72:9 - his enemies Psalms 110:2 - rule Isaiah 11:4 - and he shall Isaiah 40:10 - his arm Jeremiah 13:14 - I will dash Jeremiah 25:34 - ye shall Jeremiah 48:12 - empty Jeremiah 48:38 - broken Ezekiel 19:11 - she had Ezekiel 45:7 - General Joel 3:12 - for Matthew 21:41 - He will Matthew 22:44 - till Luke 19:27 - General Luke 20:16 - destroy 1 Corinthians 15:28 - all things 2 Thessalonians 1:8 - taking Revelation 6:16 - and from Revelation 17:14 - the Lamb shall Revelation 19:15 - and he shall

Cross-References

Genesis 2:8
And the Lord God planted a garden eastwarde in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had shapen.
Genesis 2:9
Moreouer, out of the grounde made the Lorde God to growe euery tree, that was fayre to syght, and pleasaunt to eate: The tree of lyfe in the myddest of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and euyll.
Genesis 2:17
But as touching the tree of knowlege of good and euyll thou shalt not eate of it: For in what daye so euer thou eatest therof, thou shalt dye the death.
Genesis 3:3
But as for the fruite of the tree which is in the myddes of the garden, God hath sayde, ye shall not eate of it, neither shal ye touche of it, lest peraduenture ye dye.
Deuteronomy 6:25
Moreouer, this shalbe our righteousnesse before the Lorde our God, if we take heede, & kepe all these commaundementes, as he hath commaunded vs.
Proverbs 3:18
She is a tree of lyfe to them that lay holde vpon her: and blessed is he that kepeth her fast.
Proverbs 11:30
The fruite of the ryghteous is a tree of life: and he that winneth mens soules is wise.
Isaiah 44:25
I destroy the tokens of witches, and make the soothsayers fooles: As for the wise I turne them backwarde, and make their cunning foolishnesse.
Isaiah 47:10
For thou hast trusted in thy wickednesse, and hast said, No man seeth me: thine owne wisdome and cunning hath deceaued thee, in that thou hast sayd in thyne heart, I am alone, and without me there is none.
Ezekiel 31:16
I made the heathen shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast hym downe to hell with them that descend into the pit: all the excellent trees of Eden, & the best of Libanus, all that drinke waters, shalbe comforted in the neather partes of the earth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron,.... Not his inheritance and possession among the Gentiles, the chosen ones given him by the Father; these he delights in, takes care of, protects, and preserves: but the stubborn and rebellious ones among the Heathen, and in each of the parts of the world, who will not have him to reign over them; who treat his person with contempt, reject his government, disobey his Gospel, and despise his commands; towards these Christ will use severity, and will exert his power and break them in pieces. The Vulgate Latin, Septuagint, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, render it, "shall feed" or "rule them"; and so it is cited in Revelation 2:27; and applied to Christ, the Word of God, and King of kings; and must be understood, as it is in those places, of the severity of his government over them, of the strictness of his justice, without the least display of mercy; and then the sense is the same with those versions which render it, "shall break them:" as the word used is interpreted by the Targum, and the Jewish commentators on the place; and which is confirmed by what follows:

thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel; which is very easily done with a bar of iron; and, when it is done, the pieces can never be put together again: so that by the metaphor is signified the easy and irreparable ruin of the wicked; see Isaiah 30:14. The word signifies that they should be so crumbled into dust, that they should be scattered about as with the wind; which, so far as it relates to the Jews, was fulfilled in their destruction by the Romans, and will have its accomplishment in the antichristian nations at the latter day; see Revelation 2:26.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron - That is, evidently, thine enemies, for it cannot be supposed to be meant that he would sway such a scepter over his own people. The idea is that he would crush and subdue all his foes. He would have absolute power, and the grant which had been made to him would be accompanied with authority sufficient to hold it. That dominion which was to be conceded to him would be not only one of protection to his friends, but also of punishment on his enemies; and the statement here is made prominent because the former part of the psalm had respect to rebels, and the Messiah is here represented as being invested with power sufficient to punish and restrain them. The Vulgate renders this “thou shalt rule;” the Septuagint, “thou shalt feed - ποιμανεῖς poimaneis; that is, thou shalt feed them as a shepherd does his flock; thou shalt exercise over them the care and protection of a shepherd. This rendering occurs by a slight change in the pointing of the Hebrew word, though the most approved mode of pointing the word is that which is followed in our common translation. DeWette, Hengstenberg, Alexander, Horsley, adopt the common reading. What is said in this verse has been urged as an objection to referring it to the Messiah. The remark of DeWette on this matter has been quoted in the introduction to this psalm, Section 4 (3). But it may be observed, while it is everywhere represented that the scepter of the Messiah over the earth will be a mild scepter, it is also everywhere stated that he will ultimately crush and overthrow all his foes.

Thus, in Isaiah 11:4 : “He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.” So Psalms 110:6 : “He shall judge among the heathen; he shall fill the places with the dead bodies.” So, likewise, Revelation 19:15 : “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” So also in Matthew 25:0, and elsewhere, it is said that he will come to judgment, and will consign all his foes to appropriate punishment. While it is said that the reign of the Messiah would be a mild reign, and that his kingdom would not be of this world, and while he is represented as the Prince of peace, it is also said that he would be invested with all the authority of a sovereign. While he would have power to protect his friends, he would also have power to humble and crush his foes. The expression “with a rod of iron” refers to the scepter which he would bear. A scepter was sometimes made of wood, sometimes of gold, sometimes of ivory, and sometimes of iron. The idea, when the past was the case, was, that the dominion was absolute, and that there was nothing that could resist it. Perhaps the idea of justice or severity would be that which would be most naturally suggested by this. As applicable to the Messiah, it can only mean that his enemies would be crushed and subdued before him.

Thou shalt dash them in pieces - The same idea is here expressed in another form, but indicating more particularly the ease with which it would be done. The word rendered “dash them in pieces” means to break in pieces as an earthen vessel, Judges 7:20; Jeremiah 22:28. It is used to denote the crushing of infants on stones, Psalms 137:9. The word “shiver” would well express the idea here - “thou shalt shiver them.”

Like a potter’s vessel - A vessel or instrument made by a potter; a vessel made of clay. This is easily broken, and especially with a rod of iron, and the idea here is that he would crush and subdue his enemies as easily as this could be done. No image could more happily express the ease with which he would subdue his foes; and this accords with all the representations of the New Testament - that with infinite case - with a word - Christ can subdue his enemies, and consign them to ruin. Compare Matthew 25:41, Matthew 25:46; Luke 19:27. The sense here is, simply, that the Messiah would be absolute; that he would have power to quell all rebellion against God, and to punish all those that rise up against him; and that on those who are incorrigibly rebellious he would exercise that power, and take effectual means to subdue them. This is merely what is done by all just governments, and is by no means inconsistent with the idea that such a government would be mild and gentle toward those who are obedient. The protection of the righteous makes the punishment of the wicked necessary in all governments, and the one cannot be secured without the other. This verse is applied to the Messiah in the Book of Revelation, Revelation 2:27, note; Revelation 19:15, note; compare Revelation 12:5, note (see the notes at these passages).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 2:9. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron — This may refer to the Jewish nation, whose final rejection of the Gospel was foreseen, and in whose place the Gentiles or heathen were brought into the Church of Christ. They were dispossessed of their land, their city was razed to its foundations, their temple was burnt with fire, and upwards of a million of themselves were slaughtered by the Romans! So heavily did the iron rod of God's judgments fall upon them for their obstinate unbelief.


 
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