Psalm 22

Evangelical Heritage Version

¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
My groaning does nothing to save me.
² My God, I call out by day, but you do not answer.
I call out by night, but there is no relief for me.^[b]

³ Yet you are seated as the Holy One, praised by Israel.
⁴ In you our fathers trusted.
They trusted and you delivered them.
⁵ They cried out to you, and they were rescued.
They trusted in you, and they were not disappointed.

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock me. They sneer.
They shake their heads.
⁸ They say, “Trust in the Lord.”^[c]
“Let the Lord deliver him.
Let him rescue him, if he delights in him.”^[d]

⁹ But you are the one who brought me out of the belly.
You made me trust when I was at my mother’s breasts.
¹⁰ I was cast on you from the womb.
From the belly of my mother you have been my God.
¹¹ Do not be distant from me, for distress is near,
and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls surround me.
Strong bulls from Bashan encircle me.
¹³ Enemies open their mouths wide against me,
like a lion that tears its prey and roars.
¹⁴ Like water I am poured out.
All my bones are pulled apart.
My heart has become like wax.
It has melted in the middle of my chest.
¹⁵ My strength is dried up like broken pottery,
and my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth.
You lay me in the dust of death.
¹⁶ For dogs have surrounded me.
A band of evil men has encircled me.
They have pierced^[e] my hands and my feet.
¹⁷ I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me.
¹⁸ They divide my garments among them.
For my clothing they cast lots.

¹⁹ But you, O Lord, do not be distant.
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
²⁰ Deliver my life from the sword,
my only life from the power of the dog.
²¹ Save me from the mouth of the lion.
From the horns of the wild oxen you have answered me.^[f]

²² I will declare your name to my brothers.
In the midst of the congregation I will praise you.
²³ You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel!
²⁴ For he has not despised nor detested the affliction of the afflicted.
He has not hidden his face from him,
but when he cried out to him, he heard.
²⁵ You are the source of my praise in the great congregation.^[g]
I will fulfill my vows in the presence of those who fear him.

²⁶ The poor will eat and be satisfied.
Those who seek him will praise the Lord—
may he live in your hearts forever!^[h]
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations will bow down before you.
²⁸ For the kingdom belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
²⁹ All the rich of the earth will eat and bow down.
All who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.^[i]
30 Descendants will serve him.
For generations people will be told about the Lord.
³¹ They will come and proclaim his righteousness
    to a people yet to be born—
because he has done it.