Psalms 22:1

Psalm 22 ¹ 

For the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” ²  a psalm of David.

22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? ³ 

I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. ⁴ 

Psalms 22:20

22:20 Deliver me ⁵  from the sword!

Save ⁶  my life ⁷  from the claws ⁸  of the wild dogs!

Psalms 59:6

59:6 They return in the evening;

they growl ⁹  like a dog

and prowl around outside ¹⁰  the city.

Psalms 59:14

59:14 They return in the evening;

they growl ¹¹  like a dog

and prowl around outside ¹²  the city.

Matthew 7:6

7:6 Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces. ¹³ 

Philippians 3:2

3:2 Beware of the dogs, ¹⁴  beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! ¹⁵ 

Revelation 22:15

22:15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers ¹⁶  and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood! ¹⁷ 

[22:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 22. The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance from his dangerous enemies, who have surrounded him and threaten his life. Confident that the Lord will intervene, he then vows to thank the Lord publicly for his help and anticipates a time when all people will recognize the Lord’s greatness and worship him.

[22:1]  ² tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.

[22:1]  ³ sn From the psalmist’s perspective it seems that God has abandoned him, for he fails to answer his cry for help (vv. 1b-2).

[22:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “far from my deliverance [are] the words of my groaning.” The Hebrew noun שְׁאָגָה (shÿ’agah) and its related verb שָׁאַג (sha’ag) are sometimes used of a lion’s roar, but they can also describe human groaning (see Job 3:24 and Pss 32:3 and 38:8.

[22:20]  ⁵ tn Or “my life.”

[22:20]  ⁶ tn The verb “save” is supplied in the translation; it is understood by ellipsis (see “deliver” in the preceding line).

[22:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “my only one.” The psalmist may mean that his life is precious, or that he feels isolated and alone.

[22:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “from the hand.” Here “hand” is understood by metonymy as a reference to the “paw” and thus the “claws” of the wild dogs.

[59:6]  ⁹ tn Or “howl”; or “bark.”

[59:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “go around.”

[59:14]  ¹¹ tn Or “howl”; or “bark.”

[59:14]  ¹² tn Heb “go around.”

[7:6]  ¹³ tn Or “otherwise the latter will trample them under their feet and the former will turn around and tear you to pieces.” This verse is sometimes understood as a chiasm of the pattern a-b-b-a, in which the first and last clauses belong together (“dogs…turn around and tear you to pieces”) and the second and third clauses belong together (“pigs…trample them under their feet”).

[3:2]  ¹⁴ sn Dogs is a figurative reference to false teachers whom Paul regards as just as filthy as dogs.

[3:2]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “beware of the mutilation.”

[22:15]  ¹⁶ tn On the term φάρμακοι (farmakoi) see L&N 53.101.

[22:15]  ¹⁷ tn Or “lying,” “deceit.”