God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” It’s not the only point where the Gospels take up the language of Psalm 22. When the executioners divide Jesus’ clothes among themselves, John 19 sees a fulfillment of verse 18. Some translations of verse 16 speak of piercing the victim’s hands and feet, which reminds one of what happened in the course of the crucifixion. The psalm isn’t a prophecy in the sense of a passage that says, “One day there will be a messiah to whom this happens.” It’s a prayer for