ADONAI AND ADONI [PLALM 110:1]

The Bible’s supreme proof text for telling the difference,

between the One God and the Messiah

This verse is referring to the Messiah by the Pharisees and by Jesus. It tells us that the relationship between God and Jesus is that of God and His anointed one [Messiah].

The Messiah is called Adoni (my lord) and in every one of its 195 occurrences. Adoni (my lord) means a superior who is not God. Adonai on the other hand refers exclusively to the One God in all of its 449 occurrences. Adonai is applied exclusively to God alone, and Adoni is never a word used to refer to God.

If the Messiah were called Adonai this would introduce “two Gods” into the Bible and would be polytheism. Psalm 110:1 should guard us all against supposing that there are two who are God. In fact, the Messiah is now a glorified immortal man and is an agent of the One God. Psalm 110:1 is the Bible’s master text for defining the Son of God in relation to the One God, his Father.

Why is it that a number of commentaries misstate the facts about Psalm 110:1? They assert that the word for the Messiah in Psalm 110:1 is Adonai. It is not. These commentaries seem to obscure a classic text defining God in relation to His Son. The Hebrew text assigns to the Messiah the title adoni which invariably distinguishes the Messiah from the word Adonia which refers exclusively to the only true God. The Messiah is the supreme human lord. He is not the Lord God (cp. I Timothy 2:5; I Corinthians 8:4-6; Mark 12:28ff).

Why is the Messiah called Adoni (my lord) and never Adonai (my Lord God)?

“Adonai and Adoni are variations of Masoretic pointing to distinguish reference to God from references to humans.”

Adonai refers to God, but Adoni is to human superiors.

Adoni — ref. to men: my lord, my master [see Pslm 110:1]

Adonai — ref. to God…Lord (Brown, Driver, Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, under adon [= lord]).

“The form ADONI (‘my lord’), a royal title (I Samuel 29:8), is to be carefully distinguished from the title ADONAI (‘my LORD’) used of Yehovah.” “ADONAI; the special plural form [the divine title] distinguishes it from Adoni [with short vowel] = my lords” (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, “Lord,” p. 157).

“LORD in the OT is used to translate ADONAI when applied to YEHOVAH. The [Hebrew] word… has a suffix [with special pointing] presumably for the sake of distinction… between divine and human appellative” (Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, “Lord,” Vol. 3, p. 137).

“Hebrew Adonai exclusively denotes the God of Israel. It is attested about 450 times in the OT… Adoni [is] is addressed to human beings (Genesis 44:7, Numbers 32:25, 2 Kings 2:19 [etc.]).

“The lengthening of the ā on Adonai [the Lord God] may be traced to the concern of the Masoretes to mark the word as sacred by a small external sign” (Theological Dictionary of the OT, “Adon,” p. 63 and Theological Dictionary of the NT, III, 1060ff. n.109).

“The form ‘to my lord,’ l’adoni, is never used in the OT as a divine reference… the generally accepted fact that the masoretic pointing distinguishes divine references (Adonai) from human references (Adoni)” (Wigram, The Englishman’s Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the OT, p. 22) (Herbert Bateman, “Psalm 110:1 and the NT,” Bibliothecra Sacra, Oct.- Dec. 1992, p. 438).

Written by Anthony Buzzard and edited by Bruce Lyon