Verse 11 of Psalm 2 contains one of the most debated lines in the entire Psalter: “Serve YHWH with fear and rejoice with trembling.” The difficulty is that the Hebrew verb גִּיל (gil) almost always means “rejoice” — specifically, an act of spontaneous, enthusiastic, voiced joy. But it’s paired here with the word רְעָדָה (readah), meaning “trembling,” which usually signals terror and dread in the Hebrew Bible.
Commentators Bratcher and Reyburn called the combination “difficult if not impossible to understand” (Bratcher and Reyburn 1991, 32). The NET Bible sidesteps it entirely, translating the verb גִּיל (gil) as “repent” instead of “rejoice.”
But Scriptura’s analysis argues the contradiction between rejoicing and trembling is only apparent. Both are the appropriate responses to YHWH’s kingship. And even more than that, verse 11 is a deliberate reversal of the rebel kings’ posture in verses 1–2. Where the kings were muttering emptiness, they are now commanded to rejoice. Where they were taking a stand, they are now commanded to tremble. The psalm turns their rebellion inside out — same voices, same bodies, but the opposite posture.
