Psalms 22:14-15

22:14 My strength drains away like water; ¹ 

all my bones are dislocated;

my heart ²  is like wax;

it melts away inside me.

22:15 The roof of my mouth ³  is as dry as a piece of pottery;

my tongue sticks to my gums. ⁴ 

You ⁵  set me in the dust of death. ⁶ 

[22:14]  ¹ tn Heb “like water I am poured out.”

[22:14]  ² sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s strength and courage.

[22:15]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Cf. NEB “my jaw”; NASB, NRSV “my jaws”; NIV “the roof of my mouth.”

[22:15]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ sn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the progressive nature of the action. The psalmist is in the process of dying.