Psalm 22

Amplified Bible

A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise.

To the Chief Musician; set to [the tune of] Aijeleth Hashshahar (The Doe of the Dawn). A Psalm of David.

22 ^[a]My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?^(A)
²
O my God, I call out by day, but You do not answer;
And by night, but I find no rest nor quiet.
³
But You are holy,
O You who are enthroned in [the holy place where] the praises of Israel [are offered].
⁴
In You our fathers trusted [leaned on, relied on, and were confident];
They trusted and You rescued them.
⁵
They cried out to You and were delivered;
They trusted in You and were not disappointed or ashamed.

⁶
But I am [treated as] a worm [insignificant and powerless] and not a man;
I am the scorn of men and despised by the people.^(B)
⁷
All who see me laugh at me and mock me;
They [insultingly] open their lips, they shake their head, saying,^(C)
⁸
“He trusted and committed himself to the Lord, let Him save him.
Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.”^(D)

⁹
Yet You are He who pulled me out of the womb;
You made me trust when on my mother’s breasts.
¹⁰
I was cast upon You from birth;
From my mother’s womb You have been my God.

¹¹
Do not be far from me, for trouble is near;
And there is no one to help.
¹²
Many [enemies like] bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.^(E)
¹³
They open wide their mouths against me,
Like a ravening and a roaring lion.
¹⁴
I am poured out like water,
And all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax;
It is melted [by anguish] within me.
¹⁵
My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery;
And my [dry] tongue clings to my jaws;
And You have laid me in the dust of death.^(F)
¹⁶
For [a pack of] dogs have surrounded me;
A gang of evildoers has encircled me,
They pierced my hands and my feet.^(G)
¹⁷
I can count all my bones;
They look, they stare at me.^(H)
¹⁸
They divide my clothing among them
And cast lots for my ^[b]garment.^(I)

¹⁹
But You, O Lord, do not be far from me;
O You my help, come quickly to my assistance.
²⁰
Rescue my life from the sword,
My only life from the paw of the dog (the executioner).
²¹
Save me from the lion’s mouth;
From the horns of the wild oxen You answer me.

²²
I will tell of Your name to my countrymen;
In the midst of the congregation I will praise You.^(J)
²³
You who fear the Lord [with awe-inspired reverence], praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him.
Fear Him [with submissive wonder], all you descendants of Israel.
²⁴
For He has not despised nor detested the suffering of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from him;
But when he cried to Him for help, He listened.

²⁵
My praise will be of You in the great assembly.
I will pay my vows [made in the time of trouble] before those who [reverently] fear Him.
²⁶
The afflicted will eat and be satisfied;
Those who [diligently] seek Him and require Him [as their greatest need] will praise the Lord.
May your hearts live forever!
²⁷
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord,
And all the families of the nations will bow down and worship before You,
²⁸
For the kingship and the kingdom are the Lord’s
And He rules over the nations.
²⁹
All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship;
All those who go down to the dust (the dead) will bow before Him,
Even he who cannot keep his soul alive.
³⁰
Posterity will serve Him;
They will tell of the Lord to the next generation.
³¹
They will come and declare His righteousness
To a people yet to be born—that He has done it [and that it is finished].^(K)

Footnotes

Psalm 22:1 This psalm may have been prayed by Jesus when He was on the cross. It begins with, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” and ends with a thought of finality. The psalm is quoted in Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34; and alluded to in Matt 27:35, 39, 43 and John 19:23, 24, 28 as being fulfilled at Christ’s crucifixion.
Psalm 22:18 A prophetic reference to the long, seamless shirt-like tunic worn by Jesus as an undergarment.