Psalms 22:7-8

22:7 All who see me taunt ¹  me;

they mock me ²  and shake their heads. ³ 

22:8 They say, ⁴ 

“Commit yourself ⁵  to the Lord!

Let the Lord ⁶  rescue him!

Let the Lord ⁷  deliver him, for he delights in him.” ⁸ 

Psalms 22:12-14

22:12 Many bulls ⁹  surround me;

powerful bulls of Bashan ¹⁰  hem me in.

22:13 They ¹¹  open their mouths to devour me ¹² 

like a roaring lion that rips its prey. ¹³ 

22:14 My strength drains away like water; ¹⁴ 

all my bones are dislocated;

my heart ¹⁵  is like wax;

it melts away inside me.

[22:7]  ¹ tn Or “scoff at, deride, mock.”

[22:7]  ² tn Heb “they separate with a lip.” Apparently this refers to their verbal taunting.

[22:7]  ³ sn Shake their heads. Apparently this refers to a taunting gesture. See also Job 16:4; Ps 109:25; Lam 2:15.

[22:8]  ⁴ tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons. The psalmist here quotes the sarcastic taunts of his enemies.

[22:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “roll [yourself].” The Hebrew verb גלל here has the sense of “commit” (see Prov 16:3). The imperatival form in the Hebrew text indicates the enemies here address the psalmist. Since they refer to him in the third person in the rest of the verse, some prefer to emend the verb to a perfect, “he commits himself to the Lord.”

[22:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “Let him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “Let him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:8]  ⁸ tn That is, “for he [the Lord] delights in him [the psalmist].” For other cases where the expression “delight in” refers to God’s delight in a person, see Num 14:8; 1 Kgs 10:9; Pss 18:19; 40:8.

[22:12]  ⁹ sn The psalmist figuratively compares his enemies to dangerous bulls.

[22:12]  ¹⁰ sn Bashan, located east of the Jordan River, was well-known for its cattle. See Ezek 39:18; Amos 4:1.

[22:13]  ¹¹ tn “They” refers to the psalmist’s enemies, who in the previous verse are described as “powerful bulls.”

[22:13]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “a lion ripping and roaring.”

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

[22:14]  ¹⁵ sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s strength and courage.