Is T'hillim / Psalm 110:1 speaking of Jesus sitting at the right hand of G-d? The verse reads "Of (to / for) David a psalm. The word of the L-rd to my master; "Wait for My right hand, until I make your enemies a stool for your feet." The misapplication of this verse to Jesus seems to stem from a mistranslation as if G-d were speaking to a second god ("My L-rd said to my l-rd"). An English reader would be forgiven for thinking the two words in Hebrew are identical. They are not. Here is the Hebrew: לְדָוִד מִזְמוֹר נְאֻם יְהֹוָ-ה | לַאדֹנִי The first word translated as L-rd is G-d's holiest name in Hebrew (I added the hyphen as we are not to write out G-d's holiest name). The word is יְהֹוָ-ה. The second word translated as "lord" is a totally different word. It is לַאדֹנִי. The translators chose L-RD and lord -- it is not in the Hebrew. This passage has nothing to do with the messiah, or anyone ascending to sit next to G-d literally (this is a POEM remember, so the poet is speaking allegorically and stating that King David has been anointed by G-d to be His king). The author of this psalm is not David. This psalm was written by another about David -- thus it is David who is the psalmist's master. The poet is imagining G-d speaking to David and saying "don't worry about your enemies, I (G-d) will get rid of them for you." Did G-d get rid of Jesus' enemies? Nope. Jesus' enemies killed him. The first word translated as "L-rd" is G-d's holiest name, יְהֹוָ-ה. The second word which most Christian translations have as "lord" is the word לַאדֹנִי (l'donee). Let's discuss this second word, which comes from the root אָדוֹן / "adon." The word אָדוֹן / "adon" is a root word which can be used to speak of G-d or humans -- but the word int he psalm is not אָדוֹן / adon. In the psalm it is אֲדֹנִ֗י / adonee which is only used to speak of human masters, not G-d. For those with a rudimentary understanding of Hebrew it is possible to confuse this second word with a name for G-d rather than a name used to speak of humans. This mistake in the translation of he Hebrew word אדני in T'hillim / Psalm 110:1 may stem from the fact that the word just in consonants appears the same -- but the word is pointed in three distinct ways (each changing the meaning of the word):
אֲדֹנִי adoni is singular and has the possessive suffix “my” added to it. אֲדֹנַי adonai is plural, again with the possessive suffix “my” added to it, and is translated as“Gentlemen!” or “Sirs!” אֲדֹ-נָי adon-ai (without the dash) is used exclusively for G-d (normally in prayer as it is about the loving, merciful aspects of G-d). It is understandable that missionaries not familiar with Hebrew might find this different words confusing, because the second and third are pronounced the same (but there is precedent in English for words which sound alike but are different, too). In the psalm the word is speaking of a human master, not G-d. לַאדֹנִי. In T'hillim / Psalm 110:1 the first "master" is G-d and His holiest name is used. The second party is אֲדֹנִ֗י / adonee (my human master) is prefaced with a lamed (ל) as a prefix which means either to or for in Hebrew. Ergo the psalm begins "to David a psalm" or "for David a psalm." -- לַאדֹנִי (l'donee). In this line the poet has G-d speaking to someone the poet considers his human master (lord). This is not the only place in the T'nach that לַאדֹנִי is found. In B'reshit / Genesis 24:54 the word appears and Christian translators properly translate it as being about a human (Abraham and Esau).
Ergo G-d is not speaking to Himself in T'hillim / Psalm 110:1 and since G-d is One any distortion of לאדני to try to make it be G-d is clearly taking it out of context and distorting it. Even in the King James they capitalize the first name (G-d's holiest) as "L-rd" and they use all lower case "lord" for the second -- indicating that it was not given the same weight by the translators. This Psalm is badly mangled by Christian translators who go on next to misuse the words malchi tzadok as well. . . that shows up soon in yet another claimed prophecy. . . Mark 16:19 does make the claim that Jesus ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of G-d, but the psalm does not support that there is any such prophecy (and who the heck saw Jesus sitting next to G-d since the Christian bible never claims that anyone else -- any of these anonymous authors of the Christian bible -- ascended to heaven to see him sitting there!). . . Mark's claim has no more support that the claim that Harry Potter killed Voldemort in front of many witnesses. . . Along with the Hebrew destroying these mangled Christian mistranslations (some more modern translations are correcting the error ("What the Lord says to my master" Common English Bible), but most still distort it. There are early Aramaic interpretative translations of the psalm which go another step in showing that this line is speaking of G-d talking to King David in this first line. Targum are early translations into Aramaic. Officially Writings (Ketuvim) did not have a Targum, but we do have ones that survive. Psalm 110 from the Targums (Targum and Scripture: studies in Aramaic translations and interpretation) Composed by David a psalm. "The L-RD said in his decree to make me (David) lord of all Israel, but he said to me, "Wait still for Saul of the tribe of Benjamin to die, for one reign must not encroach on another; and afterwords I will make your enemies a prop for your feet. . ." Another Targum: "The L-RD spoke by his decree to give me the dominion in exchange for sitting in study of the Torah. "Wait at my right hand until I make your enemies a prop for your feet." Another Targum: The L-RD said in his decree to appoint me (David) ruler over Israel, but the L-RD said to me, "Wait for Saul of the tribe of Benjamin to pass away from the world; and afterwords you will inherit the kingship and I will make your enemies a prop for your feet." Yet another translation of the Targums (online) and a third online translation of the Targums.
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