Tool Beta
Is It Actually in the Bible?
Phrases people quote as Scripture. The real verse, or the honest answer that there is not one.
the people imagine a vain thing: sounds like people are just picturing something silly in their heads
In 1611, "imagine" meant to plot or scheme, not to picture something mentally.
Psalm 2:1, in every translation this tool compares.
Psalm 2:1 asks, "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?" Today "imagine" is a mild, even playful word: picturing something in your mind. But the underlying Hebrew (hagah) means to mutter, plan, or devise: the same root rendered "meditate" one psalm earlier in Psalm 1:2. The nations aren't daydreaming; they're actively scheming and plotting rebellion against God and his anointed king, and the psalm calls that plot futile ("a vain thing"). "Imagine" here is a synonym for "conspire," not "fantasize."
