Psalm 110 Macrosyntax

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Psalm 110/Macrosyntax
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Macrosyntax

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Paragraph Divisions

The psalm divides into two paragraphs, and each paragraph follows a similar pattern:

  • (1) introduction of direct speech (v. 1a // v. 4a)
  • (2) direct speech (v. 1b // v. 4b)
  • (3) fronted topic (v. 2a // v. 5)

Word Order

  • v. 2. The direct object "your strong staff" (מַטֵּה־עֻזְּךָ) is fronted, probably to signal the activation of this entity as the topic of the sentence, in contrast to the "footstool" (also a royal symbol) mentioned at the end of the previous clause: "...until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. (Now, enough with the footstool; let's talk about another royal symbol.) As for your strong staff, YHWH will extend it from Zion."[3]
  • v. 3. The word order is chiastic (Subj-Pred-Adjunct // Adjunct-Pred-Subj) such that v. 3 is bound together as a poetic unit (a verse).
  • v. 5. "The Lord at your right side" (אֲדֹנָ֥י עַל־יְמִֽינְךָ֑) is fronted, probably for confirming focus. In v. 1, YHWH said that he was going to subdue the king's enemies. Now, in v. 5, YHWH's role in this action is confirmed: "(Yes), it's the Lord (the one at your right hand) who smashed kings..." This fits well with the overall mood and purpose of the psalm, which is to assure the king that YHWH is going to take care of his enemies for him. Another argument for this view would be the close correspondence between Ps. 110 and Ps. 108—both are לדוד Pss. which mention YHWH’s “right hand” and subduing enemies—which ends in two clauses with clear constituent focus: בֵּֽאלֹהִ֥ים נַעֲשֶׂה־חָ֑יִל וְ֝ה֗וּא יָב֥וּס צָרֵֽינוּ. God is the one who is going to subdue our enemies.
  • v. 5b. The post-verbal constituent ביום אפו is fronted before the direct object (מְלָכִים).
  • v. 7a. The two prepositional phrases in v. 7a ("from a wadi on the campaign") are fronted and probably pragmatically marked.[4] The fact that the warrior takes a drink of water is not, in an of itself, noteworthy—quenching thirst after battle is assumed (cf. Judges 15:16ff). What is significant is that he takes a drink from a wadi on the campaign (i.e., from water in enemy territory), which signifies the completion of his victory.[5]

Vocatives

There are no vocatives in this psalm.

There are no Discourse Marker notes for this psalm.

Conjunctions

  • v. 1b. עַד is here a subordinating conjunction, and it connects two events: (1) "the lord sitting at YHWH's right hand; (2) "YHWH making the lord's enemies a footstool for his feet." The precise temporal relationship between these two events is not immediately clear. Specifically, does the "sitting at YHWH's right hand" cease once all of the lord's enemies have been subdued, or does it continue? The Hebrew conjunction עַד, like the English conjunction "until," often implies cessation of activity in the main (non-subordinated) clause. So, for example, Gen. 38:11 says, “Remain (שְׁבִי) a widow in your father’s house, till (עַד) Shelah my son grows up (יִגְדַּל)” (and then you won't be a widow any more) (Gen. 38:11 ESV). If this applies to Ps. 110, then the sitting of the "lord" will only last until the lord's enemies have been made his footstool; then, he will cease to sit. It's possible that this understanding underlies what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:24-25, 28 — εἶτα τὸ τέλος, ὅταν παραδιδῷ τὴν βασιλείαν τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρί... δεῖ γὰρ αὐτὸν βασιλεύειν ἄχρι οὗ θῇ πάντας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ... ὅταν δὲ ὑποταγῇ αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, τότε [καὶ] αὐτὸς ὁ υἱὸς ὑποταγήσεται τῷ ὑποτάξαντι αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα, ἵνα ᾖ ὁ θεὸς [τὰ] πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν (UBS-5th.) Sometimes, however, עַד (or עַד אֲשֶׁר) "sometimes express a limit which is not absolute (terminating in the preceding action), but only relative, beyond which the action or state described in the principal clause still continues."[6] For example, Ps. 112:8 says, "His heart is steady; he will not be afraid, until (עַד אֲשֶׁר) he looks in triumph (יִרְאֶה) on his adversaries" (ESV).[7] Similarly, in Greek, the conjunction ἕως, which the LXX uses in Ps. 110:1, can mean either "until," "so long as," or, if the actions are coextensive, "while."[8]
  • v. 7b. על כן functions to "Explain the grounds of why something... will happen"[9] In Ps. 110:7, the על כן clause explains the grounds of why YHWH "will lift (his) head": He will lift up his head (a gesture of victory over enemies and a sign of renewed confidence) because he is refreshed from his drink and confident that his victory is complete. See notes on Story Behind.


  1. ↑ When the entire utterance is new/unexpected, it is a thetic sentence (often called "sentence focus"). See our Creator Guidelines for more information on topic and focus.
  2. ↑ Frame setters are any orientational constituent – typically, but not limited to, spatio-temporal adverbials – function to "limit the applicability of the main predication to a certain restricted domain" and "indicate the general type of information that can be given" in the clause nucleus (Krifka & Musan 2012: 31-32). In previous scholarship, they have been referred to as contextualizing constituents (see, e.g., Buth (1994), “Contextualizing Constituents as Topic, Non-Sequential Background and Dramatic Pause: Hebrew and Aramaic evidence,” in E. Engberg-Pedersen, L. Falster Jakobsen and L. Schack Rasmussen (eds.) Function and expression in Functional Grammar. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 215-231; Buth (2023), “Functional Grammar and the Pragmatics of Information Structure for Biblical Languages,” in W. A. Ross & E. Robar (eds.) Linguistic Theory and the Biblical Text. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 67-116), but this has been conflated with the function of topic. In brief: sentence topics, belonging to the clause nucleus, are the entity or event about which the clause provides a new predication; frame setters do not belong in the clause nucleus and rather provide a contextual orientation by which to understand the following clause.
  3. ↑ Cf. BHRG 47.2.1, "activating an identifiable entity in order to comment on different entities that are involved in the same situation" (e.g., 2 Sam. 13:19); cf. Lunn: "MKD" (2006, 327).
  4. ↑ So Lunn 2006, 327, "MKD".
  5. ↑ Cf. von Nordheim 2008; see Story Behind.
  6. ↑ GKC 164f, citing Ps. 110:1; cf. BDB עד II:1b; Delitzsch; Baethgen 1904, 337; Görg, "Thronen zur Rechten Gottes," 1996, 76.
  7. ↑ Cf. Gen. 28:15; 49:10; Deut. 7:24.
  8. ↑ Smyth 2383.
  9. ↑ BHRG 40.38; for על כן + yiqtol in the Psalms, see Ps. 1:5; 18:50; 25:8; 42:7; 45:18; 46:3.