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Psalm 80 · a question people ask

Who is "the man of your right hand" (80:17)?

In the text

The psalm doesn't name him. The verse gives him two names side by side: "Let your hand be on the man of your right hand, on the son of man whom you made strong for yourself" (80:17) (tap right hand, strong). Two verses earlier the psalm spoke of the vine in the same words: "the stock which your right hand planted, the branch that you made strong for yourself" (80:15). In Hebrew the WEB's branch there is ben, son (tap branch), and both verses end with the same verb and for yourself. Son of man in 80:17 is ben adam, the words of "What is the son of man, that you care for him?" (Psalm 8:4), and the chapter on Psalm 8 takes up whether that verse speaks of Jesus. For Psalm 80:17 these notes found no New Testament verse that quotes it or says who the man is. The psalm says what it asks for him, "Let your hand be on" him (80:17), and what the people will do: "So we will not turn away from you. Revive us, and we will call on your name" (80:18). It says no more than that, and these notes don't either.

The verses

“the stock which your right hand planted, the branch that you made strong for yourself.”
Psalm 80:15 · World English Bible
“Let your hand be on the man of your right hand, on the son of man whom you made strong for yourself. So we will not turn away from you. Revive us, and we will call on your name.”
Psalm 80:17-18 · World English Bible
“what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?”
Psalm 8:4 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 80

Psalm 80: Turn us again

The WEB's branch in 80:15 is ben, son, and "the branch that you made strong for yourself" (80:15) and "the son of man whom you made strong for yourself" (80:17) end with the same Hebrew verb and for yourself. And each time the line "Turn us again" comes, the name grows: God, God of Armies, LORD God of Armies.

In Favor, questions like this come up right where they arise as you read, with the Hebrew and Greek behind the words and how the chapter leads to Jesus.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions