Psalms 22:22-25

22:22 I will declare your name to my countrymen! ¹ 

In the middle of the assembly I will praise you!

22:23 You loyal followers of the Lord, ²  praise him!

All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

All you descendants of Israel, stand in awe of him! ³ 

22:24 For he did not despise or detest the suffering ⁴  of the oppressed; ⁵ 

he did not ignore him; ⁶ 

when he cried out to him, he responded. ⁷ 

22:25 You are the reason I offer praise ⁸  in the great assembly;

I will fulfill my promises before the Lord’s loyal followers. ⁹ 

[22:22]  ¹ tn Or “brothers,” but here the term does not carry a literal familial sense. It refers to the psalmist’s fellow members of the Israelite covenant community (see v. 23).

[22:23]  ² tn Heb “[you] fearers of the Lord.” See Ps 15:4.

[22:23]  ³ tn Heb “fear him.”

[22:24]  ⁴ tn Or “affliction”; or “need.”

[22:24]  ⁵ sn In this verse the psalmist refers to himself in the third person and characterizes himself as oppressed.

[22:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “he did not hide his face from him.” For other uses of the idiom “hide the face” meaning “ignore,” see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9. Sometimes the idiom carries the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 27:9; 88:14).

[22:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “heard.”

[22:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “from with you [is] my praise.”

[22:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “my vows I will fulfill before those who fear him.” When asking the Lord for help, the psalmists would typically promise to praise the Lord publicly if he intervened and delivered them.