Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament
Psalms 22
Psalm 22: forsaken and surrounded, then praise in the great congregation
General context
The speaker asks his God why he has forsaken him and is so far from helping him and from the words of his roaring; he cries by day and night and is not heard. Yet God is holy, inhabiting the praises of Israel, and the fathers trusted and were delivered. But the speaker is a worm and no man, despised; those who see him laugh, shoot out the lip and shake the head, saying he trusted in the Lord, so let the Lord deliver him. He recalls that God took him from the womb and has been his God from his mother's belly, and asks God not to be far, for trouble is near and no one helps. Bulls of Bashan surround him, gaping like a lion; he is poured out like water, his bones out of joint, his heart melted like wax, his strength dried like a potsherd, his tongue cleaving to his jaws, brought into the dust of death. Dogs and the assembly of the wicked enclose him; they pierced his hands and feet; he can count his bones as they stare; they part his garments and cast lots on his vesture. He asks the Lord to hasten, to deliver from sword, dog and lion, and says he has been heard from the horns of the unicorns. He will declare God's name to his brethren and praise him in the congregation, calling the seed of Jacob and Israel to praise, for God has not despised the affliction of the afflicted but heard him. The meek will eat and be satisfied; all the ends of the world will turn to the Lord, whose kingdom it is; the fat of the earth and those going down to the dust will bow; a seed will serve him and declare his righteousness to a people yet to be born, that he has done this.
Cited passages: Psalms 22:1, Psalms 22:2, Psalms 22:3, Psalms 22:4, Psalms 22:6, Psalms 22:8, Psalms 22:10, Psalms 22:11, Psalms 22:12, Psalms 22:14, Psalms 22:15, Psalms 22:16, Psalms 22:18, Psalms 22:21, Psalms 22:22, Psalms 22:24, Psalms 22:26, Psalms 22:27, Psalms 22:29, Psalms 22:31
Psalms 22 (KJV)
1My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
6But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
9But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.
10I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.
11Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
12Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
13They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
17I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
18They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
19But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
20Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
21Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
22I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
23Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
25My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
26The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
27All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28For the kingdom is the Lord’s: and he is the governor among the nations.
29All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
30A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.
Historical context
The text as printed carries no heading, so no author or instrument is stated in this source. The speaker is unnamed; the people are called Israel, the seed of Jacob and the seed of Israel; Bashan is the one place named, as the origin of the bulls. The enemies are given as animals (bulls, lion, dogs, unicorns) and as "the assembly of the wicked", and their actions include mockery, staring, piercing hands and feet, and dividing garments by lot. The mockers' words in verse 8 are quoted. The turn at verse 21, "thou hast heard me", comes without any narrated rescue. The New Testament quotes this psalm at several points: Matthew 27:46 has Jesus cry "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"; Matthew 27:35 says the soldiers "parted his garments, casting lots" and cites "They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots"; John 19:24 cites the same line; Matthew 27:43 has the mockers say "He trusted in God; let him deliver him now"; Hebrews 2:12 quotes verse 22. Those are readings by later writers; the psalm speaks in its own voice of one afflicted and then heard.
Cited passages: Psalms 22:23, Psalms 22:12, Psalms 22:7, Psalms 22:21, Matthew 27:46, Matthew 27:35, John 19:24, Matthew 27:43, Hebrews 2:12
Literary context
The psalm is in two unequal parts, complaint in verses 1-21 and praise in 22-31, and the hinge is the phrase "thou hast heard me" at the end of verse 21. The complaint alternates between the speaker's state and appeals to God's past: "But thou art holy", "But I am a worm", "But thou art he that took me out of the womb", each "But" swinging the poem the other way. Distance is the recurring word: "so far from helping me", "Be not far from me", "be not thou far from me". The body is taken apart in images, water, disjointed bones, wax, a potsherd, a cleaving tongue, countable bones. Animals close in from verse 12, bulls, lion, dogs, and animals are named again in the plea of verses 20-21 in the order dog, lion, unicorns. The praise widens in circles: brethren, congregation, the seed of Jacob, the meek, the ends of the world, the fat and the dying, a seed and a people not yet born. The mockers' "let him deliver him" is answered by "he heard", and the psalm ends on "he hath done this" without naming what.
Cited passages: Psalms 22:21, Psalms 22:9, Psalms 22:19, Psalms 22:17, Psalms 22:20, Psalms 22:25, Psalms 22:30, Psalms 22:24
Key moments
- Why hast thou forsaken me? (Psalms 22:1). The speaker asks his God why he has forsaken him and is far from helping.
- The fathers trusted (Psalms 22:4). He recalls that the fathers trusted and were delivered.
- A worm and no man (Psalms 22:6). He calls himself a worm, despised, mocked by those who see him.
- Bulls of Bashan (Psalms 22:12). Strong bulls surround him and gape like a lion.
- Pierced hands and feet (Psalms 22:16). Dogs and the assembly of the wicked enclose him and pierce his hands and feet.
- Thou hast heard me (Psalms 22:21). The plea to be saved from the lion ends with the statement that he has been heard.
- Praise in the congregation (Psalms 22:22). He will declare God's name to his brethren and praise him in the congregation.
For reflection
The mockers say the Lord should deliver the one who trusted him, and the speaker later says he was heard; what is the difference between the deliverance the mockers demand and the hearing the psalm reports?
