There
is an interesting difference between the Masoretic text of Psa 110:3 and the
Septuagint (109:3, LXX).
The KJV
OT (which is dependent upon the MT tradition) reads:
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power,
and in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew
of thy youth.
Brenton's
translation of the LXX reads:
With thee is dominion in the day of thy power, in the
splendours of thy saints: I have begotten thee from the womb before the
morning.
Both “your
youth” and “I have begotten you” are spelt using the same consonants, ילדתיך. The
difference between these two terms is down to vocalisation, which would have
been added by the Masoretes in the medieval period. That the ancient Jews understood
the correct vocalisation to be “I have begotten you” is seen in the LXX’s use
of the verb, “To beget,” εκγενναω (remember that all translation is
interpretation). Why did the Masoretes “fudge,” for lack of a better term, the
vocalisation of this passage? Psa 110:1, 4 are the most commonly cited verses
in the New Testament to demonstrate Jesus’ being the promised Messiah and the
superiority of his priesthood and his once-for-all sacrifice against the
priests and sacrifices of the Old Covenant, among other things. “I have
begotten you” may have been understood by Christians to be an allusion to a
then-future miraculous conception of the Davidic King par excellence,
with Jesus being the ultimate fulfilment of this coronation text. In an
effort to off-set this as a “proof-text” for the virginal conception, the
Masoretes vocalised the term differently than how the LXX translators
understood it to be rendered, although it is a rather nonsensical reading.
