Discovery BoxPsalms 22:16-17
Context22:16 Yes, 1 wild dogs surround me –
a gang of evil men crowd around me;
like a lion they pin my hands and feet. 2
22:17 I can count 3 all my bones;
my enemies 4 are gloating over me in triumph. 5
Zechariah 12:10
Context12:10 “I will pour out on the kingship 6 of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, 7 the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. 8
Revelation 1:7
Context1:7 (Look! He is returning with the clouds, 9
and every eye will see him,
even 10 those who pierced him, 11
and all the tribes 12 on the earth will mourn because 13 of him.
[22:16] 2 tn Heb “like a lion, my hands and my feet.” This reading is often emended because it is grammatically awkward, but perhaps its awkwardness is by rhetorical design. Its broken syntax may be intended to convey the panic and terror felt by the psalmist. The psalmist may envision a lion pinning the hands and feet of its victim to the ground with its paws (a scene depicted in ancient Near Eastern art), or a lion biting the hands and feet. The line has been traditionally translated, “they pierce my hands and feet,” and then taken as foreshadowing the crucifixion of Christ. Though Jesus does appropriate the language of this psalm while on the cross (compare v. 1 with Matt 27:46 and Mark 15:34), the NT does not cite this verse in describing the death of Jesus. (It does refer to vv. 7-8 and 18, however. See Matt 27:35, 39, 43; Mark 15:24, 29; Luke 23:34; John 19:23-24.) If one were to insist on an emendation of כָּאֲרִי (ka’ariy, “like a lion”) to a verb, the most likely verbal root would be כָּרָה (karah, “dig”; see the LXX). In this context this verb could refer to the gnawing and tearing of wild dogs (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV). The ancient Greek version produced by Symmachus reads “bind” here, perhaps understanding a verbal root כרך, which is attested in later Hebrew and Aramaic and means “to encircle, entwine, embrace” (see HALOT 497-98 s.v. כרך and Jastrow 668 s.v. כָּרַךְ). Neither one of these proposed verbs can yield a meaning “bore, pierce.”
[22:17] 3 tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 17-18 draw attention to the progressive nature of the action.
[22:17] 4 tn Heb “they.” The masculine form indicates the enemies are in view. The referent (the psalmist’s enemies) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[22:17] 5 tn Heb “they gaze, they look upon me.”
[12:10] 6 tn Or “dynasty”; Heb “house.”
[12:10] 7 tc Because of the difficulty of the concept of the mortal piercing of God, the subject of this clause, and the shift of pronoun from “me” to “him” in the next, many
[12:10] 8 tn The Hebrew term בְּכוֹר (bÿkhor, “firstborn”), translated usually in the LXX by πρωτότοκος (prwtotokos), has unmistakable messianic overtones as the use of the Greek term in the NT to describe Jesus makes clear (cf. Col 1:15, 18). Thus, the idea of God being pierced sets the stage for the fatal wounding of Jesus, the Messiah and the Son of God (cf. John 19:37; Rev 1:7). Note that some English translations supply “son” from the context (e.g., NIV, TEV, NLT).
[1:7] 9 sn An allusion to Dan 7:13.
[1:7] 10 tn Here καί (kai) was translated as ascensive.
[1:7] 11 sn An allusion to Zech 12:10.
[1:7] 12 tn In this context, tribes (φυλαί, fulai) could also be translated as “nations” or “peoples” (L&N 11.56).
[1:7] 13 tn The conjunction ἐπί (epi) is most likely causal here. The people who crucified him are those of every tribe on the earth and they will mourn because he comes as judge.
[1:7] 14 tn Grk “Yes, Amen.” The expression “This will certainly come to pass” is an attempt to capture the force of the juxtaposition of the Greek ναί (nai) and the Hebrew ἀμήν (amhn). See L&N 69.1.
[1:7] 15 sn These lines are placed in parentheses because they form an aside to the main argument.
