When it is said
It is not a set prayer of the Church’s services.
Anyone may pray it, alone or with others, when following Christ brings threats or pressure to keep quiet.
Where it comes from
Author known
Why they prayed
Peter and John had healed a man lame from birth at the temple gate. The priests and the temple guard arrested them for proclaiming that in Jesus the dead will rise. The next day the city’s rulers ordered them never again to speak or teach in Jesus’ name. Peter and John answered that they could not stop speaking about what they had seen and heard. The rulers threatened them again and let them go.
Acts 3:2-8, 4:1-5, 4:18-21, Berean Standard Bible
What happened next
Peter and John went back to the other believers and reported what the chief priests and elders had said. Everyone raised their voices to God together and prayed. When they had prayed, the place where they were gathered shook. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they went on speaking the word of God boldly, as they had asked.
Acts 4:23-24, 4:31, Berean Standard Bible
What the words mean
The psalm inside the prayer
The lines about raging nations open Psalm 2, where kings and rulers gather against the Lord and His Anointed One. The believers saw the psalm come true in the plot against Jesus. Even that plot, they prayed, had done only what God’s hand and plan had decided beforehand. Peter had just told the rulers how it ended. They crucified Jesus, and God raised Him from the dead.
Psalm 2:1-2, Acts 4:10 and Acts 4:25-28, Berean Standard Bible
The Scripture in it
When the believers heard this, they lifted up their voices to God with one accord. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against His Anointed One.’ In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Your holy servant Jesus, Whom You anointed. They carried out what Your hand and will had decided beforehand would happen. And now, Lord, consider their threats, and enable Your servants to speak Your word with complete boldness, as You stretch out Your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.”
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the LORD and against His Anointed One …
… the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He remains faithful forever.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Greek
Δέσποτα, σὺ ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς·
ὁ διὰ στόματος Δαβὶδ τοῦ παιδός σου εἰπών, Ἱνατί ἐφρύαξαν ἔθνη, καὶ λαοὶ ἐμελέτησαν κενά;
παρέστησαν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς, καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες συνήχθησαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ κατὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ·
συνήχθησαν γὰρ ἐπ’ ἀληθείας ἐπὶ τὸν ἅγιον παῖδά σου Ἰησοῦν, ὃν ἔχρισας, Ἡρώδης τε καὶ Πόντιος Πιλάτος, σὺν ἔθνεσι καὶ λαοῖς Ἰσραήλ,
ποιῆσαι ὅσα ἡ χείρ σου καὶ ἡ βουλή σου προώρισε γενέσθαι.
καὶ τὰ νῦν, Κύριε, ἔπιδε ἐπὶ τὰς ἀπειλὰς αὐτῶν, καὶ δὸς τοῖς δούλοις σου μετὰ παρρησίας πάσης λαλεῖν τὸν λόγον σου,
ἐν τῷ τὴν χεῖρά σου ἐκτείνειν σε εἰς ἴασιν, καὶ σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα γίνεσθαι διὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ ἁγίου παιδός σου Ἰησοῦ.
From the Acts of the Apostles in Greek, on Greek Wikisource.