---
title: Psalms 2:7
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-2-7/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-2-7.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Psalms 2:7
testament: OT
section: Poetry
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Psalms 2:7

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> I will proclaim the decree spoken to Me by the LORD: “You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "Let me proclaim the decree of Jehovah; He said to me: "You are my son; Today I have become your father.""

## JW Usage

This is a load-bearing verse for the Watchtower's Christology. "Today I have become your father" is read as a statement of origin — there was a day on which the Son came to be, which is precisely what the Watchtower teaches about the pre-human Jesus. Paired with "only begotten" in John 3:16 and "firstborn of all creation" in Colossians 1:15, it is offered as evidence that the Son had a beginning and therefore cannot be the eternal God.

## Protestant Usage

The New Testament quotes this verse four times, and not once does it use it of an origin before creation. Acts 13:33 applies "today I have become your father" to the resurrection. Hebrews 1:5 applies it to the Son's enthronement above the angels. Hebrews 5:5 applies it to his appointment as high priest. Every apostolic use is about installation in an office, not about coming into existence. That fits the psalm itself. Psalm 2 is a coronation psalm — the nations rage, God installs his king on Zion, and the "today" is the day of that installation. Ancient Near Eastern kings were declared sons of the god on their accession day; the language is enthronement language. A king does not begin to exist on his coronation day. So when a JW brings this verse, the useful question is not about Greek or Hebrew — it is simply: which day is "today"? Let them answer, then read Acts 13:33 in their own Bible, where Paul tells you plainly. If "today" is the resurrection, the verse cannot be describing an event before the world was made. Then read on to Hebrews 1:6 and 1:8, where the same chapter that quotes this psalm has God commanding the angels to worship the Son. Compare Hebrews 1:7, Hebrews 1:13, John 3:18.

## NWT Issue

The NWT reads "Today I have become your father" where the Hebrew verb is yalad, "to beget" — rendered "today I have begotten you" in the King James, ESV, NASB and NIV alike. The change reverses the direction of the sentence: instead of something happening to the son, something happens to the father. It reads more naturally as a change in relationship or status, which sits comfortably with the Watchtower's reading. Worth noting that the same Hebrew word is translated "became father to" consistently through the NWT's genealogies, so the choice is not unique to this verse — but here it quietly removes the word the New Testament writers were quoting when they applied the psalm to the resurrection and enthronement.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Angels Do Not Share the Divine Nature](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/angels-not-divine-nature.md) — Hebrews 1:5-14 — the seven-fold contrast between the Son and angels [Deity of Christ]
- [Three "I"s in One Divine Mind — Why the Trinity Isn't a Body-Count Problem](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/trinity-three-centres-of-consciousness.md) — Person and being are different categories — and God is spirit [Deity of Christ]