Psalms 22:12-15

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.

22:15 The roof of my mouth ⁸  is as dry as a piece of pottery;

my tongue sticks to my gums. ⁹ 

You ¹⁰  set me in the dust of death. ¹¹ 

[22:12]  ¹ sn The psalmist figuratively compares his enemies to dangerous bulls.

[22:12]  ² sn Bashan, located east of the Jordan River, was well-known for its cattle. See Ezek 39:18; Amos 4:1.

[22:13]  ³ tn “They” refers to the psalmist’s enemies, who in the previous verse are described as “powerful bulls.”

[22:13]  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).

[22:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “a lion ripping and roaring.”

[22:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “like water I am poured out.”

[22:14]  ⁷ sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s strength and courage.

[22:15]  ⁸ tc Heb “my strength” (כֹּחִי, kokhiy), but many prefer to emend the text to חִכִּי (khikiy, “my palate”; cf. NEB, NRSV “my mouth”) assuming that an error of transposition has occurred in the traditional Hebrew text.

[22:15]  ⁹ tn Cf. NEB “my jaw”; NASB, NRSV “my jaws”; NIV “the roof of my mouth.”

[22:15]  ¹⁰ sn Here the psalmist addresses God and suggests that God is ultimately responsible for what is happening because of his failure to intervene (see vv. 1-2, 11).

[22:15]  ¹¹ sn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the progressive nature of the action. The psalmist is in the process of dying.