PSALMS
CHAPTER 22

For the director of music. To the tune of "The Doe of the Morning." A psalm of David.

¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
² O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.

³ Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel. ^[1]
4 In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
⁵ They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:
⁸ "He trusts in the LORD ;
let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him."

⁹ Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother's breast.
¹⁰ From birth I was cast upon you;
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 bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
¹³ Roaring lions tearing their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.
¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me ^[2] in the dust of death.
¹⁶ Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced ^[3] my hands and my feet.
¹⁷ I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.
¹⁸ They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.

¹⁹ But you, O LORD , be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
²⁰ Deliver my life from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
²¹ Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save ^[4] me from the horns of the wild oxen.

²² I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise you.
²³ You who fear the LORD , praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
²⁴ For he has not despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.

²⁵ From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you ^[5] will I fulfill my vows.
²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied;
they who seek the LORD will praise him-
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 before him,
²⁸ for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him-
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
³⁰ Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
³¹ They will proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet unborn-
for he has done it.

Footnotes

1. 22:3 Or Yet you are holy, / enthroned on the praises of Israel
2. 22:15 Or / I am laid
3. 22:16 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts / like the lion,
4. 22:21 Or / you have heard
5. 22:25 Hebrew him

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Bible text from Gospelcom.net.  Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

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