22:12 Many bulls 1 surround me;
powerful bulls of Bashan 2 hem me in.
22:13 They 3 open their mouths to devour me 4
like a roaring lion that rips its prey. 5
22:14 My strength drains away like water; 6
all my bones are dislocated;
my heart 7 is like wax;
it melts away inside me.
1 sn The psalmist figuratively compares his enemies to dangerous bulls.
2 sn Bashan, located east of the Jordan River, was well-known for its cattle. See Ezek 39:18; Amos 4:1.
3 tn “They” refers to the psalmist’s enemies, who in the previous verse are described as “powerful bulls.”
4 tn Heb “they open against me their mouth[s].” To “open the mouth against” is a Hebrew idiom associated with eating and swallowing (see Ezek 2:8; Lam 2:16).
5 tn Heb “a lion ripping and roaring.”
5 tn Heb “like water I am poured out.”
6 sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s strength and courage.