Psalm 22
1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.
11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
19 But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
23 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s: and he is the governor among the nations.
29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
Psalm 22 Commentary
Chapter Overview
Psalm 22 begins with Scripture’s painful question: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” David feels unheard, mocked, physically exhausted, and near death. Yet the psalm does not end in abandonment. After an urgent plea for rescue, its voice turns toward public praise, a worshiping congregation, the nations, future generations, and the declaration that God has acted.
The chapter therefore moves from solitary anguish to worldwide worship. It gives believers language for suffering that seems incompatible with God’s nearness, while refusing to let present pain become the final word. The New Testament repeatedly connects its details with Jesus’ crucifixion, showing that the suffering described by David reaches its fullest expression in the righteous Messiah.
Setting and Structure
The superscription calls Psalm 22 “A Psalm of David” and directs it to the chief musician “upon Aijeleth Shahar.” The phrase probably means “the doe of the dawn” and may identify a familiar tune or musical instruction, though its exact use is uncertain. Scripture does not name the event that produced David’s lament, so the commentary should not invent a precise crisis.
Verses 1–21 contain lament and petition. David describes divine silence, human mockery, bodily collapse, encircling enemies, and the threat of death. The final line of verse 21 marks the turning point: “thou hast heard me.” Verses 22–31 then expand outward from personal testimony to Israel’s congregation, the poor, all nations, and generations not yet born.
Key Themes
David’s opening cry is addressed to “my God” twice. He feels forsaken, but he has not stopped praying or claiming covenant relationship. Biblical lament can speak with startling honesty because faith brings anguish to God rather than turning away from him. Feeling abandoned is not identical to abandoning belief.
Jesus spoke verse 1 from the cross, as recorded in Matthew 27 and Mark 15. The psalm illuminates his suffering and vindication. The cry expresses the real horror of the sin-bearing Messiah entering judgment and experiencing the absence of comfort, not a division within the Trinity.
David cries by day and night yet receives no immediate answer. Still, verse 3 confesses, “But thou art holy.” He does not solve the tension by denying either his pain or God’s character. Mature faith can hold both: the situation is unbearable, and God remains holy even when his reasons are hidden.
The memory of Israel’s ancestors gives David a basis for appeal. They trusted, cried, and were delivered. Remembered testimony does not make delay painless, but it prevents suffering from erasing the evidence of God’s past faithfulness. The psalmist argues from the character God has already displayed.
“I am a worm, and no man” describes humiliation, not David’s literal worthlessness before God. Enemies treat him as less than human and make him an object of public contempt. Suffering often includes this social wound: pain is intensified when observers convert vulnerability into ridicule.
The mockers say, “He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him.” Their words closely echo the taunts aimed at Jesus in Matthew 27:43. They turn genuine trust into an accusation, implying that suffering proves God’s rejection. Psalm 22 exposes that false logic. The righteous may suffer terribly without being abandoned to final defeat.
David recalls dependence on God from birth. “Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts” presents trust as something God cultivated before David could describe it. The appeal is relational: the God who sustained his whole life is asked not to remain far away now that trouble is near.
The bulls of Bashan represent strong and well-fed enemies. Bashan was known for rich pasture and powerful cattle, so the image communicates intimidating force. The roaring lion adds predatory danger. David is surrounded by opponents who appear stronger, organized, and eager to consume him.
The description of being poured out like water, disjointed bones, a heart melted like wax, dried strength, and a tongue clinging to the jaws conveys total collapse. Poetry gathers emotional and bodily suffering into one picture. Several details also fit the exposure, thirst, strain, and weakness of crucifixion, though David first speaks from his own extreme affliction.
“Thou hast brought me into the dust of death” recognizes that death is near and that God remains sovereign even in the crisis. David does not say his enemies possess ultimate authority. The line is frightening, yet it still addresses God—the only one who can reverse the descent.
The KJV reads, “they pierced my hands and my feet.” The Hebrew is textually difficult: the traditional Masoretic form can be read “like a lion [at] my hands and my feet,” while some ancient witnesses support a verb meaning dug or pierced. The KJV reading strikingly corresponds with crucifixion, but the uncertainty should be acknowledged. In either form, the sufferer’s limbs are under violent attack.
David can count his bones while enemies stare and gloat. The language suggests emaciation, exposure, or the body stretched before hostile spectators. At the cross, Jesus was publicly displayed while his enemies watched. Psalm 22 thus provides both the emotional world and several visible patterns later seen in the Passion.
Verse 18 says, “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.” John 19 explicitly identifies the soldiers’ division of Jesus’ clothing as a fulfillment of this verse. What appears in David’s lament as complete vulnerability becomes a precise feature of Christ’s crucifixion.
David asks directly, “Be not thou far from me,” “haste thee to help me,” and “deliver my soul.” Faith asks for concrete rescue. “My darling” means his precious or only life, while “the unicorns” in the KJV refers to wild oxen—symbols of untamable strength.
The clause “thou hast heard me” changes the entire psalm. The text does not explain whether circumstances had already changed or whether David received assurance while still waiting. Either way, prayer becomes praise because God’s hearing is now treated as certain. The lament is not erased; it is answered.
David promises to declare God’s name “unto my brethren” and praise him in the congregation. Hebrews 2 places these words on the lips of Christ, who identifies with those he sanctifies and calls them brothers and sisters. The risen Jesus leads the redeemed community in praise after passing through suffering and death.
Verse 24 corrects the opening appearance of abandonment: God “hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted,” nor permanently hidden his face. The answer may be delayed, but the afflicted person was never contemptible to God. Divine silence must not be interpreted as divine disgust.
The vows and shared meal in verses 25–26 belong to public thanksgiving. The “meek” or afflicted eat and are satisfied, turning deliverance into communal worship and provision. Praise is not kept as a private spiritual possession; others are invited to receive courage and nourishment from God’s faithfulness.
The vision reaches “all the ends of the world” and “all the kindreds of the nations.” Because “the kingdom is the Lord’s,” worship cannot remain confined to one ruler or ethnic boundary. This worldwide hope connects Psalm 22 with the royal mission of Psalm 2.
Both the prosperous and those descending to the dust bow before God. Human status cannot remove mortality or exempt anyone from divine rule. The psalm joins rich and poor, living and dying, present worshipers and future generations beneath one King.
A coming “seed” will serve the Lord and tell the next generation of his righteousness. The final words, “that he hath done this,” mean that God has acted or accomplished deliverance. Christians may hear an appropriate resonance with Jesus’ “It is finished,” but the phrases are not identical quotations. The main point is that God’s saving action will be proclaimed to future generations.
Questions Readers Often Ask
Was David describing Jesus directly or his own suffering? Psalm 22 begins as David’s inspired lament in a real but unidentified crisis. Its language then exceeds an ordinary private complaint and forms a pattern fulfilled with remarkable depth in Jesus. The New Testament treats particular verses as fulfilled in Christ without requiring readers to deny David’s original experience.
Did the Father literally abandon Jesus on the cross? Jesus truly experienced forsakenness as the sin-bearing Messiah and endured judgment without the comfort of deliverance. Yet Scripture does not teach that the divine nature was divided or that the Father stopped loving the Son.
Does Psalm 22 prove crucifixion through the phrase “they pierced my hands and my feet”? The KJV wording is supported by important ancient evidence and strongly fits the crucifixion, but the Hebrew textual tradition contains a genuine difficulty. Christian confidence in the crucifixion does not rest on hiding that issue; the Gospels independently testify to Jesus’ death, and other Psalm 22 details are explicitly applied to it.
Why does the psalm end with the nations? God’s answer is greater than one person escaping danger. Deliverance produces testimony, testimony gathers worshipers, and God’s reign reaches every family of the earth. The movement anticipates the gospel’s worldwide announcement of the crucified and risen King.
Practical Applications
Pray honestly when God feels far away. Use specific words for silence, fear, shame, physical weakness, and hostile treatment. Lament is not polished denial; it is suffering spoken in the presence of “my God.”
Interpret the opening cry through the whole psalm. Psalm 22 does not remain at verse 1. When pain narrows attention, remember the chapter’s movement toward being heard, public praise, and future testimony. Hope does not minimize anguish; it refuses to let anguish write the conclusion.
Reject the belief that suffering proves spiritual failure. Mockers treated affliction as evidence that trust was foolish. The cross reveals the opposite: the perfectly righteous Son suffered most deeply. Support hurting people rather than adding theological accusation to their wounds.
Turn rescue into testimony and shared worship. David plans to declare God’s name in the congregation. When God sustains you, tell the truth about both the distress and the help received so that others can seek him and praise him.
Live for the generation still to come. Teach Scripture, preserve faithful witness, and proclaim Christ so present suffering can become part of a testimony that outlives you.