Psalm 22

From Suffering to Praise

For the choir director: according to “The Deer of the Dawn.”[a] A Davidic psalm.

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?(A)
Why are You so far from my deliverance(B)
and from my words of groaning?[b](C)
My God, I cry by day, but You do not answer,
by night, yet I have no rest.(D)
But You are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.(E)
Our fathers trusted in You;
they trusted, and You rescued them.(F)
They cried to You and were set free;
they trusted in You and were not disgraced.(G)

But I am a worm and not a man,(H)
scorned by men and despised by people.(I)
Everyone who sees me mocks me;
they sneer[c] and shake their heads:(J)
“He relies on[d] the Lord;
let Him rescue him;
let the Lord[e] deliver him,
since He takes pleasure in him.”(K)

You took me from the womb,
making me secure while at my mother’s breast.(L)
10 I was given over to You at birth;[f]
You have been my God from my mother’s womb.(M)

11 Do not be far from me, because distress is near
and there is no one to help.(N)

12 Many bulls surround me;
strong ones of Bashan encircle me.(O)
13 They open their mouths against me—
lions, mauling and roaring.(P)
14 I am poured out like water,(Q)
and all my bones are disjointed;(R)
my heart is like wax,
melting within me.(S)
15 My strength is dried up like baked clay;(T)
my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.(U)
You put me into the dust of death.(V)
16 For dogs have surrounded me;(W)
a gang of evildoers has closed in on me;
they pierced[g] my hands and my feet.(X)
17 I can count all my bones;
people[h] look and stare at me.(Y)
18 They divided my garments among themselves,
and they cast lots for my clothing.(Z)

19 But You, Lord, don’t be far away.(AA)
My strength, come quickly to help me.(AB)
20 Deliver my life from the sword,(AC)
my only life[i] from the power of these dogs.
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion!(AD)
You have rescued[j] me
from the horns of the wild oxen.

22 I will proclaim Your name to my brothers;
I will praise You in the congregation.(AE)
23 You who fear Yahweh, praise Him!(AF)
All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him!
All you descendants of Israel, revere Him!(AG)
24 For He has not despised or detested
the torment of the afflicted.(AH)
He did not hide His face from him(AI)
but listened when he cried to Him for help.(AJ)

25 I will give praise[k] in the great congregation
because of You;(AK)
I will fulfill my vows
before those who fear You.[l](AL)
26 The humble[m] will eat and be satisfied;(AM)
those who seek the Lord will praise Him.
May your hearts live forever!(AN)

27 All the ends of the earth will remember
and turn to the Lord.
All the families of the nations
will bow down before You,(AO)
28 for kingship belongs to the Lord;
He rules over the nations.(AP)
29 All who prosper on earth will eat and bow down;
all those who go down to the dust
will kneel before Him—
even the one who cannot preserve his life.(AQ)
30 Their descendants will serve Him;
the next generation will be told about the Lord.(AR)
31 They will come and tell a people yet to be born
about His righteousness—
what He has done.(AS)

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 22:1 Perhaps a musical term
  2. Psalm 22:1 Or My words of groaning are so far from delivering me
  3. Psalm 22:7 Lit separate with the lip
  4. Psalm 22:8 Or Rely on
  5. Psalm 22:8 Lit let Him
  6. Psalm 22:10 Lit was cast on You from the womb
  7. Psalm 22:16 Some Hb mss, LXX, Syr; other Hb mss read me; like a lion
  8. Psalm 22:17 Lit they
  9. Psalm 22:20 Lit my only one
  10. Psalm 22:21 Lit answered
  11. Psalm 22:25 Lit my praise
  12. Psalm 22:25 Lit Him
  13. Psalm 22:26 Or poor, or afflicted

The Servant’s Suffering and Exaltation

13 See, My Servant[a](A) will act wisely;[b]
He will be raised and lifted up and greatly exalted.(B)
14 Just as many were appalled at You[c]
His appearance was so disfigured
that He did not look like a man,
and His form did not resemble a human being—
15 so He will sprinkle[d][e] many nations.[f](C)
Kings will shut their mouths because of Him,
For they will see what had not been told them,
and they will understand what they had not heard.(D)

53 Who has believed what we have heard?[g]
And who has the arm of the Lord(E) been revealed to?(F)
He grew up before Him like a young plant(G)
and like a root out of dry ground.
He didn’t have an impressive form
or majesty that we should look at Him,
no appearance that we should desire Him.(H)
He was despised and rejected by men,(I)
a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.(J)
He was like someone people turned away from;[h]
He was despised, and we didn’t value Him.

Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses,
and He carried our pains;(K)
but we in turn regarded Him stricken,
struck down by God,(L) and afflicted.
But He was pierced because of our transgressions,(M)
crushed because of our iniquities;(N)
punishment(O) for our peace was on Him,
and we are healed by His wounds.(P)
We all went astray like sheep;(Q)
we all have turned to our own way;
and the Lord has punished Him
for[i] the iniquity(R) of us all.(S)

He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet He did not open His mouth.
Like a lamb led to the slaughter
and like a sheep silent before her shearers,
He did not open His mouth.(T)
He was taken away because of oppression and judgment;
and who considered His fate?[j]
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
He was struck because of my people’s rebellion.
They[k] made His grave with the wicked
and with a rich man at His death,(U)
although He had done no violence
and had not spoken deceitfully.(V)

10 Yet the Lord was pleased(W) to crush Him severely.[l](X)
When[m] You make Him a restitution offering,(Y)
He will see His seed, He will prolong His days,
and by His hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.(Z)
11 He will see it[n] out of His anguish,
and He will be satisfied with His knowledge.
My righteous(AA) Servant(AB) will justify many,(AC)
and He will carry their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give Him[o] the many as a portion,
and He will receive[p] the mighty as spoil,
because He submitted Himself to death,(AD)
and was counted among the rebels;(AE)
yet He bore the sin of many(AF)
and interceded for the rebels.(AG)

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 52:13 Tg adds the Messiah
  2. Isaiah 52:13 Or will be successful
  3. Isaiah 52:14 Some Hb mss, Syr, Tg read Him
  4. Isaiah 52:15 Or startle
  5. Isaiah 52:15 As the blood of a sacrifice is sprinkled on the altar on behalf of the people
  6. Isaiah 52:15 LXX reads so many nations will marvel at Him
  7. Isaiah 53:1 Or believed our report
  8. Isaiah 53:3 Lit And like a hiding of faces from Him
  9. Isaiah 53:6 Or has placed on Him; lit with
  10. Isaiah 53:8 Or and as for His generation, who considered [Him]?
  11. Isaiah 53:9 DSS; MT reads He
  12. Isaiah 53:10 Or Him; He made Him sick.
  13. Isaiah 53:10 Or If
  14. Isaiah 53:11 DSS, LXX read see light
  15. Isaiah 53:12 Or Him with
  16. Isaiah 53:12 Or receive with

22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

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24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him,(A) but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

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