Psalm 22

Psalm 22

Plea for Deliverance from Suffering and Hostility

To the leader: according to The Deer of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.

¹My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?^*

²O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;

and by night but find no rest.^*

³Yet you are holy,

enthroned on the praises of Israel.^*

⁴In you our ancestors trusted;

they trusted, and you delivered them.

⁵To you they cried and were saved;

in you they trusted and were not put to shame.^*

⁶But I am a worm and not human,

scorned by others and despised by the people.^*

⁷All who see me mock me;

they sneer at me; they shake their heads;^*

⁸“Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—

let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”^*

⁹Yet it was you who took me from the womb;

you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.^*

¹⁰On you I was cast from my birth,

and since my mother bore me you have been my God.^*

¹¹Do not be far from me,

for trouble is near,

and there is no one to help.

¹²Many bulls encircle me;

strong bulls of Bashan surround me;^*

¹³they open wide their mouths at me,

like a ravening and roaring lion.^*

¹⁴I am poured out like water,

and all my bones are out of joint;

my heart is like wax;

it is melted within my breast;^*

¹⁵my mouth^z is dried up like a potsherd,

and my tongue sticks to my jaws;

you lay me in the dust of death.^*

¹⁶For dogs are all around me;

a company of evildoers encircles me;

they bound my hands and feet.^a*

¹⁷I can count all my bones.

They stare and gloat over me;

¹⁸they divide my clothes among themselves,

and for my clothing they cast lots.^*

¹⁹But you, O Lord, do not be far away!

O my help, come quickly to my aid!

²⁰Deliver my soul from the sword,

my life^b from the power of the dog!^*

²¹Save me from the mouth of the lion!

From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued^c me.^*

²²I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;^d

in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:^*

²³You who fear the Lord, praise him!

All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;

stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!^*

²⁴For he did not despise or abhor

the affliction of the afflicted;

he did not hide his face from me^e

but heard when I^f cried to him.^*

²⁵From you comes my praise in the great congregation;

my vows I will pay before those who fear him.^*

²⁶The poor^g shall eat and be satisfied;

those who seek him shall praise the Lord.

May your hearts live forever!^*

²⁷All the ends of the earth shall remember

and turn to the Lord,

and all the families of the nations

shall worship before him.^h*

²⁸For dominion belongs to the Lord,

and he rules over the nations.^*

²⁹To him,ⁱ indeed, shall all who sleep in^j the earth bow down;

before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,

and I shall live for him.^k*

³⁰Posterity will serve him;

future generations will be told about the Lord^*

³¹and^l proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,

saying that he has done it.^*