Psalm 22:1-18

English Standard Version

Why Have You Forsaken Me?

To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.

22 ^(A)My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so ^(B)far from saving me, from the words of my ^(C)groaning?
²O my God, I cry by ^(D)day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.

³Yet you are ^(E)holy,
    ^(F)enthroned on ^(G)the praises^[a] of Israel.
⁴In you our fathers trusted;
    they trusted, and you delivered them.
⁵To you they ^(H)cried and were rescued;
    in you they ^(I)trusted and were not put to shame.

⁶But I am ^(J)a worm and not a man,
    ^(K)scorned by mankind and ^(L)despised by the people.
⁷All who see me ^(M)mock me;
    they make mouths at me; they ^(N)wag their heads;
⁸^(O)“He trusts in the Lord; let him ^(P)deliver him;
    let him rescue him, for he ^(Q)delights in him!”

⁹Yet you are he who ^(R)took me from the womb;
    you made me trust you at my mother's breasts.
¹⁰On you was I cast from my birth,
    and from ^(S)my mother's womb you have been my God.
¹¹Be not ^(T)far from me,
    for trouble is near,
    and there is ^(U)none to help.

¹²Many bulls encompass me;
^(V)strong bulls of ^(W)Bashan surround me;
¹³they ^(X)open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.

¹⁴I am ^(Y)poured out like water,
    and all my bones are ^(Z)out of joint;
my ^(AA)heart is like ^(AB)wax;
    it is melted within my breast;
¹⁵my strength is ^(AC)dried up like a potsherd,
    and my ^(AD)tongue sticks to my jaws;
    you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶For ^(AE)dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers ^(AF)encircles me;
they have ^(AG)pierced my hands and feet^[b]—
¹⁷I can count all my bones—
they ^(AH)stare and gloat over me;
¹⁸^(AI)they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.

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Footnotes

Psalm 22:3 Or dwelling in the praises
Psalm 22:16 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts like a lion [they are at] my hands and feet