[4] According to the Talmud and commentators such as Saadia Gaon, Abraham ibn Ezra, and the Karaite Yefet ben Ali, this psalm is messianic, referring to the advent of the Jewish Messiah who will be preceded by the wars of Gog and Magog.

The Talmud teaches (Sukkah 52a): Our Rabbis taught: The Holy One, blessed be He, will say to the Messiah, the son of David (May he reveal himself speedily in our days!

[4] Arenda suggests that Rashi's view was influenced by that of early Christian commentators who interpreted verse 7 as referring to Christ.

Every Tuesday, the faithful of Opus Dei, after invoking their Guardian Angel and kissing the rosary, recite Psalm 2 in Latin.

[25] The Presbyterian Scottish Psalter of 1650 rewords the psalm in a metrical form that can be sung to a tune set to the common meter.

Heinrich Schütz wrote a setting of a paraphrase in German, "Was haben doch die Leut im Sinn", SWV 098, for the Becker Psalter, published first in 1628.

[27] In France, Pierre Robert composed a grand motet "Quare fremuerunt gentes", for the Chapelle Royale in the Louvre.

Felix Mendelssohn wrote a setting of Psalm 2 in German during his time as Generalmusicdirektor for church music in Berlin.

The setting is for two four part choirs with sections for solo voices and was first performed in Berlin Cathedral on the first day of Christmas 1843.

[31] Those verses read, "To smash the arrogance of the sinner like a potter’s vessel, to shatter all their substance with an iron rod.

[31] English-speaking Protestant Christians usually translate the first phrase of verse 12 as "Kiss the son", as in the King James Version.

Some Jewish authors have accused Protestant Christians of arbitrarily choosing to interpret the word as Aramaic to suggest a reference to Jesus Christ.

This is an interpretation close to that of Catholics, who traditionally follow the Vulgate and Septuagint to translate the phrase as "Embrace discipline".