Psalms 22:16

22:16 Yes, ¹  wild dogs surround me –

a gang of evil men crowd around me;

like a lion they pin my hands and feet. ² 

Psalms 22:1

Psalm 22 ³ 

For the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” ⁴  a psalm of David.

22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? ⁵ 

I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. ⁶ 

Psalms 6:1-10

Psalm 6 ⁷ 

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments, according to the sheminith style; ⁸  a psalm of David.

6:1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger!

Do not discipline me in your raging fury! ⁹ 

6:2 Have mercy on me, ¹⁰  Lord, for I am frail!

Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking! ¹¹ 

6:3 I am absolutely terrified, ¹² 

and you, Lord – how long will this continue? ¹³ 

6:4 Relent, Lord, rescue me! ¹⁴ 

Deliver me because of your faithfulness! ¹⁵ 

6:5 For no one remembers you in the realm of death, ¹⁶ 

In Sheol who gives you thanks? ¹⁷ 

6:6 I am exhausted as I groan;

all night long I drench my bed in tears; ¹⁸ 

my tears saturate the cushion beneath me. ¹⁹ 

6:7 My eyes ²⁰  grow dim ²¹  from suffering;

they grow weak ²²  because of all my enemies. ²³ 

6:8 Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly, ²⁴ 

for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping! ²⁵ 

6:9 The Lord has heard my appeal for mercy;

the Lord has accepted ²⁶  my prayer.

6:10 May all my enemies be humiliated ²⁷  and absolutely terrified! ²⁸ 

May they turn back and be suddenly humiliated!

[22:16]  ¹ tn Or “for.”

[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.”

[22:1]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.

[22:1]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.

[6:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 6. The psalmist begs the Lord to withdraw his anger and spare his life. Having received a positive response to his prayer, the psalmist then confronts his enemies and describes how they retreat.

[6:1]  ⁶ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term שְׁמִינִית (shÿminit, “sheminith”) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. See 1 Chr 15:21.

[6:1]  ⁷ sn The implication is that the psalmist has sinned, causing God to discipline him by bringing a life-threatening illness upon him (see vv. 2-7).

[6:2]  ⁷ tn Or “show me favor.”

[6:2]  ⁸ tn Normally the verb בָּהַל (bahal) refers to an emotional response and means “tremble with fear, be terrified” (see vv. 3, 10). Perhaps here the “bones” are viewed as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. However, the verb may describe one of the effects of his physical ailment, perhaps a fever. In Ezek 7:27 the verb describes how the hands of the people will shake with fear when they experience the horrors of divine judgment.

[6:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “my being is very terrified.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[6:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and you, Lord, how long?” The suffering psalmist speaks in broken syntax. He addresses God, but then simply cries out with a brief, but poignant, question: How long will this (= his suffering) continue?

[6:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my being,” or “my life.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[6:4]  ¹² sn Deliver me because of your faithfulness. Though the psalmist is experiencing divine discipline, he realizes that God has made a commitment to him in the past, so he appeals to God’s faithfulness in his request for help.

[6:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “for there is not in death your remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זֵכֶר (zekher, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the Lord as invoked in liturgy and praise. Cf. Pss 30:4; 97:12. “Death” here refers to the realm of death where the dead reside. See the reference to Sheol in the next line.

[6:5]  ¹⁴ tn The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “no one.”

[6:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I cause to swim through all the night my bed.”

[6:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “with my tears my bed I flood/melt.”

[6:7]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text has the singular “eye” here.

[6:7]  ¹⁸ tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”

[6:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or perhaps, “grow old.”

[6:7]  ²⁰ sn In his weakened condition the psalmist is vulnerable to the taunts and threats of his enemies.

[6:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “all [you] workers of wickedness.” See Ps 5:5.

[6:8]  ²⁰ sn The Lord has heard. The psalmist’s mood abruptly changes because the Lord responded positively to the lament and petition of vv. 1-7 and promised him deliverance.

[6:9]  ²¹ tn The prefixed verbal form is probably a preterite here; it is parallel to a perfect and refers to the fact that the Lord has responded favorably to the psalmist’s request.

[6:10]  ²³ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist concludes his prayer with an imprecation, calling judgment down on his enemies.

[6:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and may they be very terrified.” The psalmist uses the same expression in v. 3 to describe the terror he was experiencing. Now he asks the Lord to turn the tables and cause his enemies to know what absolute terror feels like.