Adonai (אֲדֹנָי)

“The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’” — Psalm 110:1

Adonai (אֲדֹנָי) means “Lord” or “Master” and is one of the most important names for God in the Old Testament. The root adon (אָדוֹן) — “lord, master, sovereign” — appears across the ancient Near East for rulers and overlords, but when applied to God with the emphatic ending -ai, it becomes a title of absolute sovereignty and authority over all creation — and over the lives of those who belong to Him.

Meaning

The name communicates:

• Lordship — God is the supreme ruler and master of all
• Authority — He has the right to command obedience and allegiance
• Ownership — His people belong to Him; He is their sovereign Lord

Adonai and Adoni

Hebrew makes a critical distinction between two forms:

• Adonai (אֲדֹנָי) — “my Lord,” used exclusively for God. The special vowel pointing and ending mark this as a divine title.
• Adoni (אֲדֹנִי) — “my lord,” used for human masters, kings, and superiors. This is the common form of respectful address.

This distinction matters enormously for understanding messianic prophecy, as we see in Psalm 110.

Adonai as Substitute for YHWH

By the Second Temple period, reverence for the divine name YHWH had grown so great that Jewish readers adopted the practice of saying Adonai whenever they encountered the Tetragrammaton in the text. The Masoretes — the medieval scribes who added vowel points to the Hebrew consonantal text — placed the vowels of Adonai beneath the letters YHWH as a reminder to readers to make this substitution.

This practice is reflected in most English Bibles, which render YHWH as “the LORD” (small capitals) — following the ancient custom of reading Adonai in its place. When the text itself reads Adonai YHWH, English Bibles typically render it “the Lord GOD” to avoid saying “Lord Lord.”

Psalm 110:1 — The Crucial Messianic Text

No verse in the Hebrew Bible is quoted or alluded to more frequently in the New Testament than Psalm 110:1:

“The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’” — Psalm 110:1

In Hebrew: ne’um YHWH la’adoni (נְאֻם יְהוָה לַאדֹנִי) — “YHWH declares to my adoni.” The second “lord” here is adoni (לַאדֹנִי), not Adonai (אֲדֹנָי) — it is the form used for a human superior or king, not the form reserved exclusively for God. David, the king of Israel, refers to someone as “my lord” (adoni) — someone whom YHWH Himself invites to share His throne. Who could be David’s lord while also being distinct from YHWH, yet seated at YHWH’s right hand?

Jesus and Psalm 110

Jesus pressed this question on the Pharisees to reveal His own identity:

“If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” — Matthew 22:45

The answer the Pharisees could not give is the answer the whole New Testament proclaims: the Messiah is both David’s son (human) and David’s Lord (divine). He is the one to whom YHWH says, “Sit at my right hand.” The early Church understood the resurrection and ascension of Jesus as the fulfillment of this very verse (Acts 2:34–36). The author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 110:1 to establish Christ’s superiority over the angels (Hebrews 1:13) and develops its companion verse — “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Psalm 110:4) — to argue for Christ’s unique, eternal priesthood (Hebrews 5–7).

Kyrios — Lord in the New Testament

The Greek word kyrios (κύριος) served double duty in the early Church. It translated both Adonai and YHWH from the Septuagint, and it became the primary title for the risen Jesus. When Thomas fell before Jesus and declared “My Lord and my God!” — ho kyrios mou kai ho theos mou (ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου) — (John 20:28), and when Paul wrote “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 12:3), the confession carried the full weight of Old Testament divine lordship. In the Roman Empire, where Caesar demanded the title kyrios, the Christian confession kyrios Iēsous — “Jesus is Lord” — was not merely theological but politically subversive: it declared that ultimate allegiance belongs not to any earthly ruler but to the crucified and risen Messiah.

To call Jesus kyrios was to acknowledge Him as the one to whom all authority in heaven and on earth belongs (Matthew 28:18) — the one God revealed as Trinity, worthy of the worship that Israel offered to YHWH alone (Philippians 2:9–11; cf. Isaiah 45:23).

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” — Acts 2:36