Psalms 22:26-31

22:26 Let the oppressed eat and be filled! ¹ 

Let those who seek his help praise the Lord!

May you ²  live forever!

22:27 Let all the people of the earth acknowledge the Lord and turn to him! ³ 

Let all the nations ⁴  worship you! ⁵ 

22:28 For the Lord is king ⁶ 

and rules over the nations.

22:29 All of the thriving people ⁷  of the earth will join the celebration and worship; ⁸ 

all those who are descending into the grave ⁹  will bow before him,

including those who cannot preserve their lives. ¹⁰ 

22:30 A whole generation ¹¹  will serve him;

they will tell the next generation about the sovereign Lord. ¹² 

22:31 They will come and tell about his saving deeds; ¹³ 

they will tell a future generation what he has accomplished. ¹⁴ 

[22:26]  ¹ sn Eat and be filled. In addition to praising the Lord, the psalmist also offers a thank offering to the Lord and invites others to share in a communal meal.

[22:26]  ² tn Heb “may your heart[s].”

[22:27]  ³ tn Heb “may all the ends of the earth remember and turn to the Lord.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 27 are understood as jussives (cf. NEB). Another option (cf. NIV, NRSV) is to take the forms as imperfects and translate, “all the people of the earth will acknowledge and turn…and worship.” See vv. 29-32.

[22:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “families of the nations.”

[22:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “before you.”

[22:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “for to the Lord [is] dominion.”

[22:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “fat [ones].” This apparently refers to those who are healthy and robust, i.e., thriving. In light of the parallelism, some prefer to emend the form to יְשֵׁנֵי (yÿsheney, “those who sleep [in the earth]”; cf. NAB, NRSV), but דִּשְׁנֵי (dishney, “fat [ones]”) seems to form a merism with “all who descend into the grave” in the following line. The psalmist envisions all people, whether healthy or dying, joining in worship of the Lord.

[22:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “eat and worship.” The verb forms (a perfect followed by a prefixed form with vav [ו] consecutive) are normally used in narrative to relate completed actions. Here the psalmist uses the forms rhetorically as he envisions a time when the Lord will receive universal worship. The mood is one of wishful thinking and anticipation; this is not prophecy in the strict sense.

[22:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “all of the ones going down [into] the dust.” This group stands in contrast to those mentioned in the previous line. Together the two form a merism encompassing all human beings – the healthy, the dying, and everyone in between.

[22:29]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and his life he does not revive.”

[22:30]  ¹¹ tn Heb “offspring.”

[22:30]  ¹² tn Heb “it will be told concerning the Lord to the generation.” The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[22:31]  ¹³ tn Heb “his righteousness.” Here the noun צִדָקָה (tsidaqah) refers to the Lord’s saving deeds whereby he vindicates the oppressed.

[22:31]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to a people [to be] born that he has acted.” The words “they will tell” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.