His legitimate king, my lord,
according to your right hand
according to your right hand
The above is the translation of Psa 110:5 as offered by Mitchell Dahood. Dahood does not believe that the MT vocalisation of “lord” is correct. The MT has Adonai (my [sovereign] Lord); instead, Dahood believed that it should be vocalised as adoni (my lord). Commenting on Psa 110:5, Dahood wrote:
my lord. Revocalizing MT ‘adōnāy as ‘adōnî, the term designating the human king in vs. 1. Structurally, ‘adōnî corresponds to ‘attāh, “you,” so that the following parallel elements stand forth in a chiastic pattern: You // my lord; priest of the Eternal // His legitimate king; according to his pact // according to your right hand.
5. according to your right hand. As pointed out by D. N. Freedman, ‘al yemīnekā, commonly rendered “at your right hand,” describes the gesture by which the king ratified the divine pact; cf. Isa lxii 8, nišba’ yhwh bīmīnō, “Yahweh swore by his right hand,” and Ps cxliv 11. (Mitchell Dahood, Psalms 101-150: Introduction, Translation, and Notes with an Appendix The Grammar of the Psalter [AB 17A; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970], 118)