Discovery BoxPsalms 109:3
Context109:3 They surround me and say hateful things; 1
they attack me for no reason.
Psalms 17:11
Context17:11 They attack me, now they surround me; 2
they intend to throw me to the ground. 3
Psalms 18:5
Context18:5 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me, 4
the snares of death trapped me. 5
Psalms 22:12
Context22:12 Many bulls 6 surround me;
powerful bulls of Bashan 7 hem me in.
Psalms 118:10-11
Context118:10 All the nations surrounded me. 8
Indeed, in the name of the Lord 9 I pushed them away. 10
118:11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me.
Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.
Psalms 22:16
Context22:16 Yes, 11 wild dogs surround me –
a gang of evil men crowd around me;
like a lion they pin my hands and feet. 12
[109:3] 1 tn Heb “and [with] words of hatred they surround me.”
[17:11] 2 tc Heb “our steps, now they surround me.” The Kethib (consonantal text) has “surround me,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has “surround us,” harmonizing the pronoun to the preceding “our steps.” The first person plural pronoun does not fit the context, where the psalmist speaks as an individual. In the preceding verses the psalmist uses a first person singular verbal or pronominal form twenty times. For this reason it is preferable to emend “our steps” to אִשְּׁרוּנִי (’ishÿruni, “they attack me”) from the verbal root אָשֻׁר (’ashur, “march, stride, track”).
[17:11] 3 tn Heb “their eyes they set to bend down in the ground.”
[18:5] 3 tn Heb “surrounded me.”
[18:5] 4 tn Heb “confronted me.”
[22:12] 4 sn The psalmist figuratively compares his enemies to dangerous bulls.
[22:12] 5 sn Bashan, located east of the Jordan River, was well-known for its cattle. See Ezek 39:18; Amos 4:1.
[118:10] 5 sn The reference to an attack by the nations suggests the psalmist may have been a military leader.
[118:10] 6 tn In this context the phrase “in the name of the
[118:10] 7 tn Traditionally the verb has been derived from מוּל (mul, “to circumcise”) and translated “[I] cut [them] off” (see BDB 557-58 s.v. II מוּל). However, it is likely that this is a homonym meaning “to fend off” (see HALOT 556 s.v. II מול) or “to push away.” In this context, where the psalmist is reporting his past experience, the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite. The phrase also occurs in vv. 11, 12.
[22:16] 7 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.”
