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Journey of a Passage

Psalm 110:3

"The dew of thy youth" or "I have begotten thee"

One of the hardest verses in the Psalter. The Masoretic Text reads "from the womb of the dawn, yours is the dew of your youth (yaldutekha)." With different vowels the same letters can be read "I have begotten you (yelidtikha)." The Greek reads "From the womb, before the morning star, I begot you" (Giguet "Je t'ai engendré… avant l'étoile du matin"; Vulgate "ex utero ante luciferum genui te").

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

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✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The psalm as first composedPsalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Psalter
Latin
  1. Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)c. AD 386–392, revised from the GreekTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)
Syriac
    English
    1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
    New Testament quotation

      Every witness, in order

      1. Psalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)

        The psalm as first composed

        – No copy survives

        No original survives. About forty Psalms manuscripts from Qumran, Masada and Nahal Hever (c. 2nd century BC – 1st century AD) are the oldest copies.

      2. c. AD 386–392, revised from the Greek

        Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)

        ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)

        How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

        Tecum principium in die virtutis tuæ in splendoribus sanctorum: ex utero, ante luciferum, genui te.

        Latin numbering: Psalm 109:3. Jerome revised this Latin Psalter from the Greek, so it is a witness to the Greek, not to the Hebrew.

      3. AD 1008

        Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

        ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed

        How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

        עַמְּךָ֣ נְדָבֹת֮ בְּי֢וֹם חֵ֫ילֶ֥ךָ בְּֽהַדְרֵי־קֹ֭דֶשׁ מֵרֶ֣חֶם מִשְׁחָ֑ר לְ֝ךָ֗ טַ֣ל יַלְדֻתֶֽיךָ׃

        Your people are freewill offerings in the day of your power, in holy splendour; from the womb of the dawn, yours is the dew of your youth

        Hebrew numbering: Psalm 110:3.

      4. 1611

        King James Bible

        ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

        How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

        Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.

      5. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

        Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)

        ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Psalter

        How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

        Le principe est avec toi au jour de ta puissance, parmi les splendeurs de tes saints. Je t’ai engendré de mes entrailles, avant l’étoile du matin.

        Greek numbering: Psalm 109:3. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check); not checked against Rahlfs' critical edition (C check).

      What changed, and why

      The consonants yldtyk can be vowelled as a noun ("your youth") or a verb ("I have begotten you"), the same verb as in Psalm 2:7 ("this day have I begotten thee"). Some Hebrew manuscripts are reported to support the verbal reading (C check). The Greek also reads the opening differently ("With you is the rule in the day of your power, in the splendours of the holy ones").

      The Greek reading, applied to Christ, became an important text for early Christian teaching that the Son is begotten of the Father before all ages. In the Hebrew, the verse belongs to a royal enthronement oracle.

      What the evidence shows

      • Independently documentedThe Greek and Latin read "I begot you" in 110:3.
      • Independently documentedThe consonants allow both "your youth" and "I have begotten you."

      Sources

        Related lessons

        • Psalm 110: Sit at My Right Hand →"A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." The LORD sends the rod of the king's strength out of Zion; his people volunteer "in the day of thy power… from the womb of the morning." "The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." The Lord at his right hand shatters kings; "He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head." It is the Old Testament verse most quoted in the New Testament.