Psalms 110:1-6

1 The Lord said to my lord, 1 "Sit here at my right side until I put your enemies under your feet."
2 From Zion the Lord will extend your royal power. "Rule over your enemies," he says.
3 On the day you fight your enemies, your people will volunteer. Like the dew of early morning your young men will come to you on the sacred hills.
4 The Lord made a solemn promise and will not take it back: 2 "You will be a priest forever in the priestly order of Melchizedek."
5 The Lord is at your right side; when he becomes angry, he will defeat kings.
6 He will pass judgment on the nations and fill the battlefield with corpses; he will defeat kings all over the earth.

Psalms 110:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 110

\\<>\\. This psalm was written by David, as the title shows, and which is confirmed by our Lord Jesus Christ, Mt 22:43 and by the Apostle Peter, Ac 2:34 and was not written by anyone of the singers concerning him, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; nor by Melchizedek, nor by Eliezer the servant of Abraham, concerning him, as Jarchi and others: for the former could not call Abraham his lord, since he was greater than he, Heb 7:7 and though the latter might, yet he could not assign his master a place at the right hand of God; nor say he was a priest after the order of Melchizedek: and as it was written by David, it could not be concerning himself, as the Targum, but some other; not of Hezekiah, to whom some of the Jews applied it, as Tertullian {m} affirms; but of the Messiah, as is clear from the quotation by Christ, Mt 22:43,44 and from the references to it by the apostle, \Ac 2:34 1Co 15:25 Heb 1:13\. And that this was the general sense of the ancient Jewish church is manifest from the silence of the Pharisees, when a passage out of it was objected to them by our Lord concerning the Messiah; and is the sense that some of the ancient Jews give of it; says R. Joden {n}, ``God will make the King Messiah sit at his right hand, &c:'' and the same is said by others {o}; and it is likewise owned by some of the more modern {p} ones; and we Christians can have no doubt about it. The psalm is only applicable to Christ, and cannot be accommodated to any other; no, not to David as a type, as some psalms concerning him may.

Cross References 2

  • 1. 110.1Matthew 22.44;Mark 12.36;Luke 20.42, 43;Acts 2.34, 35;1 Corinthians 15.25;Ephesians 1.20-22;Colossians 3.1;Hebrews 1.13; 8.1; 10.12, 13.
  • 2. 110.4Hebrews 5.6; 6.20; 7.17, 21.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. [Verse 3 in Hebrew is unclear.]
  • [b]. in the priestly order of Melchizedek; [or] like Melchizedek; [or] in the line of succession to Melchizedek.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.