“Let’s tear their shackles apart And throw their ropes away from us!”
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.
- BSB “Let us break Their chains and cast away Their cords.”
- NKJV “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords 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 great men, and will speak to them; for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
- Luke 19:14But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to reign over us.’
- 1 Pet 2:7–8For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone,”
- Luke 19:27But bring those enemies of mine who didn’t want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.’”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.