Psalms 110:1

Psalm 110 ¹ 

A psalm of David.

110:1 Here is the Lord’s proclamation ²  to my lord: ³ 

“Sit down at my right hand ⁴  until I make your enemies your footstool!” ⁵ 

Matthew 22:44-45

22:44 ‘The Lord said to my lord, ⁶ 

“Sit at my right hand,

until I put your enemies under your feet”’? ⁷ 

22:45 If David then calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” ⁸ 

Acts 2:34-35

2:34 For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says,

‘The Lord said to my lord,

“Sit ⁹  at my right hand

2:35 until I make your enemies a footstool ¹⁰  for your feet.”’ ¹¹ 

Acts 2:1

The Holy Spirit and the Day of Pentecost

2:1 Now ¹²  when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

Colossians 1:25

1:25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship ¹³  from God – given to me for you – in order to complete ¹⁴  the word of God,

Hebrews 1:13

1:13 But to which of the angels ¹⁵  has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? ¹⁶ 

[110:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 110. In this royal psalm the psalmist announces God’s oracle to the Davidic king. The first part of the oracle appears in v. 1, the second in v. 4. In vv. 2-3 the psalmist addresses the king, while in vv. 5-7 he appears to address God.

[110:1]  ² tn The word נְאֻם (nÿ’um) is used frequently in the OT of a formal divine announcement through a prophet.

[110:1]  ³ sn My lord. In the psalm’s original context the speaker is an unidentified prophetic voice in the royal court. In the course of time the psalm is applied to each successive king in the dynasty and ultimately to the ideal Davidic king. NT references to the psalm understand David to be speaking about his “lord,” the Messiah. (See Matt 22:43-45; Mark 12:36-37; Luke 20:42-44; Acts 2:34-35).

[110:1]  ⁴ tn To sit at the “right hand” of the king was an honor (see 1 Kgs 2:19). In Ugaritic myth (CTA 4 v. 108-10) the artisan god Kothar-and Khasis is described as sitting at the right hand of the storm god Baal. See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 61-62.

[110:1]  ⁵ sn When the Lord made his covenant with David, he promised to subdue the king’s enemies (see 2 Sam 7:9-11; Ps 89:22-23).

[22:44]  ⁶ sn The Lord said to my Lord. With David being the speaker, this indicates his respect for his descendant (referred to as my Lord). Jesus was arguing, as the ancient exposition assumed, that the passage is about the Lord’s anointed. The passage looks at an enthronement of this figure and a declaration of honor for him as he takes his place at the side of God. In Jerusalem, the king’s palace was located to the right of the temple to indicate this kind of relationship. Jesus was pressing the language here to get his opponents to reflect on how great Messiah is.

[22:44]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Ps 110:1.

[22:45]  ⁸ tn Grk “how is he his son?”

[2:34]  ⁹ sn Sit at my right hand. The word “sit” alludes back to the promise of “seating one on his throne” in v. 30.

[2:35]  ¹⁰ sn The metaphor make your enemies a footstool portrays the complete subjugation of the enemies.

[2:35]  ¹¹ sn A quotation from Ps 110:1, one of the most often-cited OT passages in the NT, pointing to the exaltation of Jesus.

[2:1]  ¹² tn Grk “And” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style does not.

[1:25]  ¹³ tn BDAG 697 s.v. οἰκονομία 1.b renders the term here as “divine office.”

[1:25]  ¹⁴ tn See BDAG 828 s.v. πληρόω 3. The idea here seems to be that the apostle wants to “complete the word of God” in that he wants to preach it to every person in the known world (cf. Rom 15:19). See P. T. O’Brien, Colossians, Philemon (WBC), 82.

[1:13]  ¹⁵ sn The parallel phrases to which of the angels in vv. 5 and 13 show the unity of this series of quotations (vv. 5-14) in revealing the superiority of the Son over angels (v. 4).

[1:13]  ¹⁶ sn A quotation from Ps 110:1.