“Let us break Their chains and cast away Their cords.”
Parallel translations
- WEB “Let’s break their bonds apart, and cast their cords from us.”
- KJV Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
- NKJV “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.”
- NASB “Let’s tear their shackles apart And throw their ropes away from us!”
- NLT “Let us break their chains,” they cry, “and free ourselves from slavery to God.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The rebels long to cast off God's authority as if it were chains. They mistake the Lord's good rule for bondage.
Overview
The plotters speak with one voice, resolving to break free from God's 'bonds' and 'cords.' Their words reveal the heart of all sin: a desire for autonomy from the Creator. Yet what they call slavery is true freedom, for Christ's yoke is easy and His burden light (Matthew 11:30).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Jer 5:5I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.” But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.
- Luke 19:14But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’
- 1 Pet 2:7–8To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
- Luke 19:27And these enemies of mine who were unwilling for me to rule over them, bring them here and slay them in front of me.’”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 2:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.