---
title: Psalms 110:1
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-110-1/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-110-1.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Psalms 110:1
testament: OT
section: Poetry
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Psalms 110:1

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "Jehovah declared to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand Until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.'"

## JW Usage

The Watchtower reads Psalm 110:1 with sharp distinction: YHWH ("Jehovah") speaks to David's "Lord" (a separate, lesser figure). The lower-case-vs-capital distinction in Hebrew ʾădōnî vs ʾădōnāy is leveraged to argue that the Messianic figure here is not Jehovah but a subordinate figure — Jehovah's Messianic agent, given the seat at his right hand. The verse is one of the central JW Christological proof-texts because every NT citation of Psalm 110:1 (Matthew 22:44, Acts 2:34, Hebrews 1:13) is read through this Father-vs-lesser-Lord lens.

## Protestant Usage

Psalm 110:1 is the most quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament — and the New Testament uses it Christologically in ways the JW reading cannot bear. Pair Psalm 110:1 with Matthew 22:41-46 (Jesus's own use: how can David call his own descendant "Lord" if the Messiah is merely a Davidic successor?), Acts 2:34-36 (Peter at Pentecost: "God has made him both Lord and Christ"), and Mark 14:62 (Jesus combining Daniel 7:13 with Psalm 110:1 in the Sanhedrin trial — a combination the high priest immediately understood as a divine identity claim). The "right hand" position in ancient Near Eastern royal protocol was the seat of co-regency, sharing the king's authority. Psalm 110 places the Messiah in that seat, and the New Testament identifies the Messiah as the Son who shares the Father's throne. The Hebrew distinction between YHWH and ʾădōnî preserves the Father-Son distinction that Trinitarianism affirms — it does not undermine the Son's divinity, because the Son's enthronement at YHWH's right hand is precisely what the New Testament identifies as the Christological climax (Hebrews 1:13).

## NWT Issue

The NWT renders the verse "Jehovah declared to my Lord" — preserving the Hebrew distinction between YHWH and ʾădōnî. The translation itself is technically defensible (the Hebrew does distinguish the two terms). The doctrinal weight comes from how the NWT carries this distinction forward into every NT citation of Psalm 110:1 — at Matthew 22:44, Acts 2:34, and Hebrews 1:13 the NWT preserves the "Jehovah / Lord" pattern to support the JW reading that Jesus is a created lord separate from Jehovah. Standard English translations also preserve "the LORD said to my Lord," but they let the New Testament Christological application interpret the relationship. The NWT's selective Tetragrammaton policy and the consistent "Jehovah / lower lord" framing across NT citations is the load-bearing translation pattern, not the rendering of this verse alone.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Christ Is Already Reigning](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/christ-reigning-now.md) — Acts 2:30-36 / Ephesians 1:20-22 / 1 Corinthians 15:25 [Eschatology]
- [The Trial That Proved Jesus Claimed to Be God](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/mark14-trial-deity-claim.md) — Mark 14:60-64 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Son of Man on the Clouds — A Divine Prerogative](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/daniel7-son-of-man-deity.md) — Daniel 7:13-14 [Deity of Christ]
- [David's Son, David's Lord](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/psalm-110-my-lord.md) — Psalm 110:1 / Matthew 22:41-46 — the question Jesus asked that nobody could answer [Deity of Christ]