"Thy throne, O God, [is] age-during, and for ever, A sceptre of uprightness [Is] the sceptre of Thy kingdom." Young's Literal Version
"Your divine throne endures forever" Revised Standard Version
"God is your throne to time indefinite, even forever" New World Translation
This Scripture has profound meaning for many as it ties to Jesus at Hebrews 1:8, which is used as a proof-text for Christ's divinity. But what are many saying about this verse at Psalms 45:6 (7)?:
"The word ‘elohim is used a few times in the Bible for humans (e.g., Pss 45:6; 82:2), and always clearly in the sense of a subordinate to GOD—they are his representatives on earth. The explanation here goes back to 4:16. If Moses is like God in that Aaron is his prophet, then Moses is certainly like God to Pharaoh. Only Moses, then, is able to speak to Pharaoh with such authority, giving him commands." NET Bible
Psalm 45:6, "Thy throne [King Solomon], O God ["the Messianic king", Brown Driver &Briggs], is for ever and ever: A sceptre of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom."
The NASB Zondervan Study Bible (see also NIV Study Bible) has this footnote:
"O God. Probably the king's throne is called God's throne because he is God's appointed regent. But it is also possible that the king himself is addressed as "god." The Davidic king (the LORD's anointed 2 Sam. 19:21), because of his special relationship with God, was called at his enthronement the 'son' of God (see 2:7; 2 Sam 7:14; 1 Chr 28:6; cf. 89:27). In this psalm, which praises the king and especially extols his 'splendor and majesty' (v. 3), it is not unthinkable that he was called 'god' as a title of honor (cf. Is 9:6). Such a description of the Davidic king attains its fullest meaning when applied to Christ, as the author of Hebrews does (Heb 1:8,9). (The pharoahs of Egypt were sometimes addressed as 'my god' by their vassal kings in Canaan, as evidenced by the Amarna letters...Such was the language used with respect to kings (see note 21:4). It here gains added significance in the light of God's
covenant with David (see 89:4, 29, 36; 132:12; 2 Sam 7:16). In Christ the Son of David, it is
fulfilled."
The New American Bible reads here in the footnote:
"The king in courtly language, is called 'god,' i.e., more than human, representing God to the people."
The Interpreters Bible comments:
"In the ancient world kings were commonly accorded divine titles as viceregents of deity or as belonging to a superhuman class."
To The Hebrews, A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. The Anchor Bible, pp.20-21, follows this line if thought:
"Psalm 45 was a poem addressed to a king, not to God. The king, whom God had blessed, was urged to gird on his sword in glory and ride victoriously (Ps.45:3-4). His enemies were destined to fall before his sharp arrows (Ps.45:5). In the Psalm the king was also addressed with reference to his throne and his scepter, but the words could be understood as addressed to God. Since the author of Hebrews wanted to use this royal Psalm, he had to deal with this difficulty in some way, just as commentators do today. He seems to have handled the problem by speaking in reference to the Son, just as he had spoken in reference to the angels (1:7) just before. Then, in reference to the Son he spoke of God's throne and the Son's kingdom. Next, in the following verse, he continued to deal with the Son in direct address as indicated by the Psalm quotation. It seems more likely that the author of Hebrews sensed a difficulty here than he intentionally confused the Son with God. For the author, the Son was the first-born,the apostle of God,the reflection of God's glory, and the stamp of his nature (1:3,6), but he was not God himself."
The Oxford Bible Commentary, on p. 380 states:
"The text is in disorder in a number of places, hence the different renderings by modern Eng. versions, The meaning of v. 6 has been hotly debated. The most natural way of taking the Hebrew is as NRSV, with the king addressed as God. Because this would be unique in the OT (although the future king of Isa 9:6 is called 'mighty god'), alternative ways of interpreting the Hebrew have been sought. The NRSV marg. is one possibility, another is 'Your throne is everlasting like that of God'."
B.F. Westcott acknowledged (see his "The Epistle to the Hebrews"), the Psalm is a reference to an earthly King (probably Solomon), so if this verse requires that Jesus be God Almighty, then we have no choice but to conclude that Solomon was also God Almighty.
The Catholic NAB footnote on Ps. 45:7 says that "the Hebrew king was called ELOHIM, 'God,' not in the polytheistic sense common among pagans, but as meaning 'godlike,' or taking the place of God."
From Raymond Brown :
"Vincent Taylor admits that in v. 8 the expression 'O God' is vocative spoken of Jesus, but he says that the author of Hebrews was merely citing the Psalm and using its terminology without any deliberate intention of suggesting that Jesus is God. It is true that the main point of citing the Psalm was to contrast the Son with angels and to show that the Son enjoys eternal domination, while the angels were but servants. Therefore in the citation no major point was being made of the fact that the Son can be addressed as God. Yet we cannot presume that the author did not notice that his citation had this effect. We can say at least, that the author saw nothing wrong in this address, and we can call upon a similar situation in Heb. 1:10, where the application to the Son of Psalm 102:25-27 has the effect of addressing Jesus as Lord. Of course, we have no way of knowing what the 'O God' of Psalm meant to the author of Hebrews when he applies it to Jesus. Psalm 45 is a royal Psalm; and on the analogy of the 'Mighty God' of Isaiah 9:6, 'God' may have been looked on simply as a royal title and hence applicable to Jesus as the Davidic Messiah."--Taken from Jesus, God and Man (New York: Macmillian, 1967, pg 24 & 25.)
The New Jerusalem Bible translates Ps. 45:6 as "Your throne is from God" with this footnote: "Gk translates 'Your throne, God,' seeing the word Elohim a vocative addressing the king; in fact this title is applied to the Messiah, Is 9:5, to leaders and to judges, Ps 82:6; Ex 22:6, to Moses, Ex 4:16; 7:1, and to the house of David, Zc 12:8."
"...TEV translates Hebrews 1:8 as, 'Your throne, 0 God, will last for ever and ever!'' But NWT translates this same passage as, 'But with reference to the Son: God is your throne for ever and ever.'' TEV takes 'God' as a
vocative (the Greek case for addressing a person) and the Son is therefore called 'God.' NWT takes 'God' as a nominative (the Greek case for the subject of the clause), and the Son therefore is not referred to as 'God.' If we could establish without doubt whether "God" was nominative or vocative, we could also decide which of the translations is the correct one. However, neither in Hebrews I:8 nor in our quotation of Psalm 45:7 is there a verb that can help us-and the morphology of the Greek word theos ('God') does not help us here because the same form is used both for the nominative and for the vocative (with a few exceptions). Thus, in this passage the theology of the translator is the decisive factor in the translation.
[In Psalm 45 the words are directed toward a human king, and it can be argued that the one who did the anointing is 'God' (theos) and not the one being anointed. This speaks in favor of understanding the construction in Hebrews 1:8 as nominative rather than vocative. But from a strictly linguistic point of view, both alternatives are possible.]" ~The Role of Theology and Bias in Bible Translation: With a Special Look at the New World Translation of Jehovah's Witnesses by Rolf Furuli
“'O god.' The Messiah was a 'god' in the same way that angels and people who are appointed by God to do his work, such as judges, are called 'god.' We see this in Psalm 82:6, which Jesus quoted in John 10:34." https://www.revisedenglishversion.com/Psalms/chapter45/6
"Within the Jewish tradition, Psalm 45 has never been taken to call the king 'God.' The modern translation published by the Jewish Bible Society reads, 'Your divine throne is everlasting.' The Greek translation of the psalm made before the beginning of Christianity, which reads exactly as the author of Hebrews has quoted it, certainly followed this traditional Jewish understanding of the verse, and its translators thought that by using ho theos they were saying 'God is your throne,' not 'your throne, 0 God.'
It is always possible that the author of Hebrews understood it differently. There are other examples in Hebrews where Old Testament verses are reinterpreted. But these reinterpretations are always made apparent to the reader by slight changes in how the verses are quoted, as in Hebrews 2:6-8. In Hebrews 1:8, the author would have to make some change in phrasing to make the reinterpretation explicit. But no change is made. So even if the author understood ho theos there as direct address, he or she has not left us any explicit indication of that.
So we must conclude that the more probable translation is 'God is your throne . . .,' the translation found in the NW and in the footnotes of the NRSV and TEV. Three giants of modern New Testament scholarship -- Westcott, Moffatt, and Goodspeed -- came to the same conclusion independently. The fact is, if this verse were quoted in the New Testament in reference to anyone else, the translators would have not hesitated to translate it as "God is your throne . . ." It seems likely that it is only because most translations were made by people who already believe that Jesus is God that the less probable way of translating this verse has been preferred."
Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament by Jason David BeDuhn
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