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Psalm 110 is not simply another royal psalm. It is the great enthronement and priesthood psalm that the New Testament returns to again and again. Christ Himself used it to challenge a limited expectation of the Messiah: He is both David’s Son and David’s Lord. St Augustine insists that confessing Christ as David’s Lord must not mean denying His true descent from David: “Let us not be ashamed of the Son of David, lest we find the Lord of David angry with us.”¹

Its spiritual center is Christ’s present reign and eternal priesthood. The New Testament repeats the invitation, “Sit at My right hand” (Matthew 22:44); this is not only future glory, for Christ reigns even now in the midst of enemies. The exalted Lord is also the Priest who has willingly offered Himself for us and lives to intercede for us. Psalm 110 therefore stands near the heart of Orthodox Christology, priesthood, sacrifice, and hope.

Psalm 110 (LXX 109) - The Lord Said to My Lord

Psalm Metadata

Field	Notes
NKJV / Masoretic numbering	Psalm 110
Septuagint / Coptic numbering	Psalm 109
Accepted author	A Psalm of David.
Period in author’s life	Attributed to David; a prophetic vision of the Messiah.
Christ prophecy status	Directly Messianic and prophetic. The Lord speaking to the Lord, the right hand, the eternal priesthood, and the judgment on the nations point to Christ.
Coptic lectionary/service use	Psalm 110 (LXX Ps 109) is included in the Ninth Hour and monastic Veil Prayer in the retained St Bishoy trilingual Book of Agpeya.
Numbering issue	This note embeds Brenton LXX Psalm 109. The retained Agpeya prints Psalm 109 (110); its numbered paragraphs do not coincide throughout with Brenton verse divisions.

Historical and Scriptural Context

Psalm 110 is a clear messianic psalm that the New Testament cites repeatedly. It binds together enthronement, dominion, divine sonship, priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, and final victory over the enemies of God. In Matthew 22:41–46, Christ’s question does not deny Davidic descent; it asks why David also calls the Messiah Lord. Acts 2:32–36 relates the psalm’s enthronement to Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation, and Hebrews 7:15–28 reads its oath in light of His lasting priesthood.

Augustine sees the King already reigning in the midst of enemies in the present age. The Psalm stretches from the mystery of the Incarnation to the Eucharistic life of the Church and finally to the last judgment.

Geographical Significance ⛰️

Sion is the place from which the rod of power is sent. The image speaks of the King’s authority from the holy city, exercised even in the midst of enemies.

The Characters 👥

The Lord who speaks. In this Christian reading, the Father addresses the psalmist’s Lord and swears the enduring priesthood.

My Lord. Christ, David’s Son and David’s Lord, the enthroned King-Priest.

The enemies and the nations. Enemies oppose the Lord; the nations are the peoples among whom He judges, not a synonym for enemies.

Melchisedec. The ancient king of Salem and priest who is a type of Christ’s eternal priesthood.

🕯️ Light from the Word

Psalm 109:1-3, The Lord said to my Lord

109:1 A Psalm of David. The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 109:2 The Lord shall send out a rod of power for thee out of Sion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. 109:3 With thee is dominion in the day of thy power, in the splendours of thy saints: I have begotten thee from the womb before the morning.

The opening invitation is addressed to the psalmist’s Lord, whom Christians confess as Christ; it is not a direction for each reader to take the Father’s seat. The footstool pictures enemies brought under His rule. The word “until” points to their promised subjection; it does not say that Christ’s reign will end when that promise is fulfilled.

The rod from Sion is an image of royal authority, yet the command is to rule in the midst of enemies. Christ’s reign is present even while opposition continues. We need not pretend that suffering or conflict has already disappeared in order to trust Him.

The begetting from the womb before the morning is a difficult image. Read in the light of the Orthodox Creed, it does not give God a body or put a beginning in time on the Son. The Creed confesses the Son as begotten of the Father before all ages, not created, and of one essence with the Father. The same Son became man for our salvation: His eternal begetting is distinct from His birth as man.

Lesson Guide

• Key phrases: “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
• Emphasize: Christ reigns now amid real opposition, and His victory will be fulfilled.
• Avoid: treating His enthronement as a promise that believers will escape opposition.

Psalm 109:4, The Lord sware, and will not repent

109:4 The Lord sware, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec.

The oath declares a priesthood that will not be revoked. In Genesis 14:18–20, Melchisedec, king of Salem and priest of God, brings forth loaves and wine and blesses Abram. Genesis does not say that he offered the loaves and wine as a sacrifice; their connection with the Eucharist is Christian typology. Hebrews reflects on the way the narrative presents Melchisedec without a recorded genealogy, not on a claim that he had no human parents. It looks beyond a succession of priests who die to Christ’s abiding priesthood.

St Augustine states the mystery with unusual precision: Christ “is a Priest on account of the flesh which He assumed, on account of the victim which He was to offer for us received from us.”² In the Incarnation, the eternal Son takes our humanity; as Priest He willingly offers Himself for us. His priesthood is not an abstraction: Hebrews says He always lives to intercede for those who come to God through Him (Hebrews 7:25).

The Eucharistic and sacrificial resonance here is not accidental. The order of Melchizedek prepares the Church to see in Christ the Priest who died and now lives forever, the Victim who willingly offers Himself, and the Lord whose priesthood cannot be transferred to another.

Lesson Guide

• Key phrases: “The Lord sware, and will not repent”; “Thou art a priest for ever.”
• Emphasize: Christ’s priesthood is rooted in the Incarnation and abides forever.
• Avoid: flattening the verse into a generic symbol of leadership. This is priesthood, sacrifice, and mediation.

Psalm 109:5-7, The Lord at thy right hand has dashed in pieces kings

109:5 The Lord at thy right hand has dashed in pieces kings in the day of his wrath. 109:6 He shall judge among the nations, he shall fill up the number of corpses, he shall crush the heads of many on the earth. 109:7 He shall drink of the brook in the way; therefore shall he lift up the head.

Verse 1 gives the invitation to the psalmist’s Lord. In verse 5 the address changes: Augustine identifies the Lord at “thy right hand” as Christ at God’s right hand, the Priest who intercedes for us.

The Psalm speaks starkly of corpses and crushed heads. It proclaims Christ’s judgment and final victory, not permission for private revenge, ethnic hatred, or political violence. He judges among the nations; the nations are not simply the enemies. Final judgment belongs to the Lord, not to the reader. Seeking safety or lawful protection from harm is not revenge. Augustine also reads Christ’s judgment as a present humbling that can lead a sinner to be rebuilt, while warning of final judgment.

In a historical commentary that also contains ethnic polemic we must reject, Theodoret of Cyrus first sees Christ’s humility in drinking water on the way; he then relates the drinking to the cup of the Passion and the lifting of the head to exaltation.³ Augustine gives a different reading: the brook is the passing course of human mortality, which Christ entered by being born and dying; the lifting of the head points to His exaltation through humility.⁴ These readings direct us to Christ’s path through humility to exaltation, not to a promise of personal or political triumph.

Lesson Guide

• Key phrases: “The Lord at thy right hand has dashed in pieces kings in the day of his wrath.”
• Emphasize: Christ’s just judgment and final victory, and the humility seen in the brook by these commentators.
• Avoid: using judgment as a warrant for revenge or treating the nations as enemies.

The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖

Fr Jacob B Nadian’s St Bishoy trilingual Book of Agpeya includes this psalm in the Ninth Hour and in the Veil Prayer, which the book identifies as prayed by monks. Both print it as Psalm 109 (110), in selections corresponding to all seven Brenton verses, though the translation and paragraph divisions differ.

The opening prayer of each service addresses Christ as King and asks forgiveness. The psalm’s royal and priestly words deepen that prayer of mercy: the King before whom we stand is also the Priest who intercedes for us.

Iconography Connection 🖼️

Looking at an Ascension icon can help us contemplate the exaltation of the risen Christ. It can also lead us back to the Psalm’s priestly promise, read in the light of Hebrews: the exalted Lord is the Priest who intercedes for His people.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

1. Pray to the Father through Christ. The invitation to sit at the Father’s right hand is to the Son. Because our enthroned Priest lives to intercede, bring your needs and failures to the Father through Him.

2. Trust the eternal priesthood. When you feel unworthy to pray, remember that Christ has offered Himself for us once for all and that His priesthood does not pass to another.

3. Endure without retaliation. Christ reigns amid real opposition. Ask Him for patience, refuse revenge, and seek safety or help when harm threatens.

4. Remember His humility. As you hear of the brook and the lifted head, remember Augustine’s reading of the Lord who entered our mortal life and was exalted. Ask for grace to serve faithfully rather than seeking personal triumph.

5. Praise the Lord among the nations. Christ judges among the nations; they are not ours to despise. Pray for all peoples and offer mercy where you can.

Teacher's Notes

• Timing: 10 minutes for the right hand and the footstool, 15 minutes for the eternal priesthood, 15 minutes for the judgment on the nations, 10 minutes for application.
• Where to linger: the opening three verses and the oath of priesthood in verse 4.
• Key phrase to say slowly: “The Lord sware, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec.”
• Pastoral warning: do not use the Psalm to promise the absence of opposition. The enemies are real, but the victory is certain in Christ.

Glossary

• Right hand: The place of honor and power; Christ at the Father’s right hand intercedes for us.
• Footstool: An image of enemies brought under rule, not a license for our retaliation.
• Rod of power from Sion: The authority of the Messiah from the holy city.
• Order of Melchisedec: Christ’s enduring priesthood, anticipated by the priest-king Melchisedec and grounded in the power of an endless life.
• Brook in the way: The Psalm’s closing image; Augustine reads it as the mortality Christ entered, followed by exaltation.

Translation and Source Notes

Embedded Scripture is from Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX). The introduction’s New Testament Scripture is from NKJV. The study title uses NKJV/Masoretic numbering first, Psalm 110, with LXX 109 in parentheses. The St Bishoy trilingual Book of Agpeya prints the psalm as 109 (110); its paragraph divisions do not coincide throughout with Brenton’s verse divisions.

Sources

Primary sources: Brenton Septuagint, Psalm 109; Genesis 14:18–20; Hebrews 5-7; Matthew 22:44; Acts 2:34-35; Philippians 2:5–11; St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 110 in the older English numbering tradition corresponding to LXX Psalm 109, §§2, 6, 10–14; Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Psalm 110 in the Hill translation, §8, printed pp. 212–213.

Coptic Orthodox / liturgical sources: Fr Jacob B Nadian, St Bishoy trilingual Book of Agpeya: Orthodox Creed, pp. 51–52; Ninth Hour, pp. 108, 115–116; Veil Prayer, prayed by monks, pp. 180, 201–202.

Footnotes

1. St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 110 in the older English numbering tradition corresponding to LXX Psalm 109, §2. Historical NPNF volume. ↩

2. St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 110 in the older English numbering tradition corresponding to LXX Psalm 109, §11. Historical NPNF volume. ↩

3. Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Psalm 110, §8, in the Hill translation, printed pp. 212–213. ↩

4. St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 110 in the older English numbering tradition corresponding to LXX Psalm 109, §14. Historical NPNF volume. ↩