22:9 Yes, you are the one who brought me out 1 from the womb
and made me feel secure on my mother’s breasts.
22:10 I have been dependent on you since birth; 2
from the time I came out of my mother’s womb you have been my God. 3
22:11 Do not remain far away from me,
for trouble is near and I have no one to help me. 4
22:12 Many bulls 5 surround me;
powerful bulls of Bashan 6 hem me in.
22:13 They 7 open their mouths to devour me 8
like a roaring lion that rips its prey. 9
1 tn Or “the one who pulled me.” The verb is derived from either גָחָה (gakhah; see HALOT 187 s.v. גחה) or גִּיחַ (giyakh; see BDB 161 s.v. גִּיחַ) and seems to carry the nuance “burst forth” or “pull out.”
2 tn Heb “upon you I was cast from [the] womb.”
3 tn Heb “from the womb of my mother you [have been] my God.”
3 tn Heb “and there is no helper.”
4 sn The psalmist figuratively compares his enemies to dangerous bulls.
5 sn Bashan, located east of the Jordan River, was well-known for its cattle. See Ezek 39:18; Amos 4:1.
5 tn “They” refers to the psalmist’s enemies, who in the previous verse are described as “powerful bulls.”
6 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).
7 tn Heb “a lion ripping and roaring.”