4:25a

You spoke by the Holy Spirit: The word by indicates here that God spoke the words and the Holy Spirit passed them on to King David.

through the mouth of Your servant, our father David: The phrase through the mouth indicates here that King David spoke the words that the Holy Spirit gave him to say. For example:

through our ancestor David, your servant (Good News Translation)

Your servant: In some languages a verb must be used for the correct meaning. For example:

he served you

our father David: Here our father means “our(excl) ancestor.” See Good News Translation example above.

4:25b

4:25b–26b is a quote from Psalm 2:1–2. You may want to include this information in a footnote or a cross-reference in your translation.

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?: This is a rhetorical question. It emphasizes that the Gentiles were very angry but they still did not get what they wanted, and they made plans but they were not able to follow those plans. Here are some other ways to translate this emphasis:

• As a rhetorical question or two rhetorical questions. For example:

Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Why were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans? (New Living Translation (2004))

• As a statement. For example:

Indeed the Gentiles raged in vain and the peoples made plans that will not succeed.

do…plot: The Greek tense on both verbs here usually indicates past tense. See the examples above.

the nations…the peoples: In Psalms 2:1 both the nations and the peoples refers to non-Jewish groups of people. This is a common Hebrew poetic way to talk. See the examples above.

nations: This word in Greek refers to people grouped by language and culture. For example:

language-groups

the peoples: This word refers to large groups of people, usually grouped also by language and culture.

If possible, translate in a way that is different than how you translated “nations.” But in some languages it is more natural to use “they” here.

rage: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as rage means “anger and disrespect.” The next verse implies that they were angry at God and said he was bad. Here are some other ways to translate this Greek word:

angry and arrogant
-or-
be angry and insult

plot in vain: The phrase in vain indicates that the people planned to do something but their plans were useless. Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

making useless plans (New Century Version)
-or-
decide to do what is worthless/ineffective

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