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Journey of a Passage

Psalm 45:6

"Thy throne, O God"

The Hebrew kis'akha elohim 'olam va'ed can be read "Your throne, O God, is for ever," addressing the king as elohim, or "Your throne is God's (or: divine) for ever." The Greek, Latin and KJV take "O God" as an address; Hebrews 1:8 quotes the Greek of the Son.

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

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ 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)
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).

      Sedes tua, Deus, in sæculum sæculi; virga directionis virga regni tui.

      Latin numbering: Psalm 44:7. 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.

      כִּסְאֲךָ֣ אֱ֭לֹהִים עוֹלָ֣ם וָעֶ֑ד שֵׁ֥בֶט מִ֝ישֹׁ֗ר שֵׁ֣בֶט מַלְכוּתֶֽךָ׃

      Your throne, O God (elohim), [is] for ever and ever; a sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of your kingdom

      Hebrew numbering: Psalm 45:7. Hebrew counts the heading as verse 1.

    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 throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.

    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.

      Ton trône, ô mon Dieu, sera dans les siècles des siècles; ton sceptre de roi est le sceptre de la justice.

      Greek numbering: Psalm 44:6. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text; not checked against Rahlfs' critical edition.

    What changed, and why

    Elohim is used of human beings in a few places (Exodus 4:16; 7:1; perhaps Psalm 82:6). If the king is addressed, the next verse still distinguishes him from "God, thy God," who anointed him. The Greek reads the vocative, as do other ancient translations according to scholarship; modern translations divide, with notes giving the alternatives.

    The question is grammatical, not a textual variant: all the library's witnesses have the same words.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedAll four library witnesses have the same wording.
    • DisputedThe king is addressed as "God."
    • Independently documentedHebrews 1:8 quotes the Greek of 45:6–7.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Psalm 45: A Song for the King's Wedding →"A Song of loves." A court poet addresses the king on his wedding day: "Thou art fairer than the children of men." He rides out in majesty for truth and justice; "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever… therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness." Myrrh, aloes, ivory palaces, the queen in gold of Ophir. Then the poet speaks to the bride: "Forget also thine own people, and thy father's house." The procession enters the palace, and the poet promises the king sons who will be princes in all the earth.