Why do the nations rage and cry

This alternative version by Jim Sayers, with its explicit Christian interpretation, was written in Sept 1997 and much discussed and revised before reaching its final form. It was originally drafted with the tune JERUSALEM in mind, prompted by the ‘Last night of the Proms’ and the need of a new version of Psalm 2. The opening couplet and lines 7–8 first came to mind over Sunday lunch, and that week the first draft was completed. The strong NT use of the Psalm encouraged the author to be bold in his Messianic treatment; 2.4 expresses the eternal generation of the Son of God, and there is even a hint of a Trinitarian structure. It was sung at Kesgrave Baptist Church that winter. ‘Let this, therefore, be held as a settled point’, writes John Calvin, ‘that all who do not submit themselves to the authority of Christ make war against God.’ Richard Simpkin’s tune THORPE-BERGER was written for this text in 1999 at the author’s suggestion, at St Helen’s Bishopsgate where the composer was Music Director. Words and music were first heard together there on 15 Aug that year, and in May 2000 appeared in the St Helen’s Songbook and CD So hear his voice.

b Epsom, Surrey 1966. Ashcombe Sch Dorking, Univ Coll of Wales, Aberystwyth (LL.B) and Edinburgh Theological Seminary (DipTh, M.Th). After two and a half years as assistant to Brian Edwards at Hook Evangelical Ch (FIEC), Surbiton, he became Pastor of Kesgrave Grace Baptist Ch, Ipswich, Suffolk, from 1995. Then in 2009 he moved to Abingdon to become Communications Director of Grace Baptist Mission. In 2020 he moved to Didcot to lead a church-plant, Grace Church Didcot. He chaired the team selecting versions of the 150 Psalms for Praise! He became a trustee of Praise Trust in 2016, and chairman in 2018.

He has 10 published texts, as here, of which the first he wrote (1994) was based on Ps 30. Nos.2B, 30A, 39, 59, 69A, 71, 86, 719, 1013, 1249. He also wrote the revised version of O Holy Night CP47