Later text
For David himself says in the book of Psalms: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’
Intertextuality Pair
Luke 20:42-43 → Psalms 110:1
Quotation
Earlier text
Psalms 110:1BSB
A Psalm of David. The LORD said to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet."
Significance
Luke's version of the Davidssohnfrage. Jesus introduces the quotation with the most explicit citation formula of the three Synoptic parallels: "For David himself says in the book of Psalms" (Luke 20:42) — naming both the human author and the canonical location. Then the prosopological puzzle: David, speaking in the Psalter, calls a future figure "my Lord," so "how can He be David's son?" (20:44). If David himself addresses the Messiah as Lord, the Messiah cannot be merely David's descendant — he must be David's superior, enthroned at God's right hand. Luke alone among the Synoptics follows the LXX wording "footstool" (ὑποπόδιον) exactly — the same text-form Peter will quote at Pentecost (Acts 2:34-35), where Luke's two-volume work records the puzzle's resolution: the risen and exalted Jesus is the Lord whom David called Lord.
- Found via
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- Reference Type
- Direct Quotation
- Connection Method(s)
- Promise-Fulfillment
Related Anchor-Text Networks
▸ The Right-Hand Session and the Melchizedekian Priest
Hermeneutical Notes
Prosopological Shift: As in the Markan parallel (Mark 12:36), the speaker remains David, but Jesus's exegesis exposes that David speaks prophetically of a Messiah whom David himself calls "my Lord." Luke completes the logic across his two volumes: the question posed in Luke 20:41-44 is answered in Acts 2:34-36, where Peter declares that David "himself says" what only the ascended Christ fulfills.
Linked Mentions 2