Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 22
Why Have You Forsaken Me?
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For the choir director. According to “Doe of the Dawn.”[a]
A psalm by David.
Part One: The Messiah’s Suffering
The Messiah’s Plea
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]
God’s Help in the Past
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.
God’s Present Absence
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]
The Mutual Love of Father and Son
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.
The Power of His Enemies
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.
Round Two: Bildad’s Speech
18 Bildad the Shuhite responded:
2 How much longer are all of you going to keep hunting for words?[a]
Come to your senses! Then we can talk.
3 Why are we considered to be like cattle?
Why are we regarded as unreasoning animals in your eyes?
4 You, who tear yourself to pieces with your anger,
do you expect the earth to be made desolate for your sake?
Should rocks be moved from their place for you?
5 The light of the wicked has been extinguished,
and not a spark of his flame still shines.
6 In his tent, light becomes darkness
when the lamp beside him goes out.
7 His powerful strides are tangled up,
and his own plans bring him down.
8 Yes, his feet are caught in a net,
and he stumbles into its webbing.
9 A trap snaps at his heel,
and a snare catches him firmly.
10 A noose lies hidden on the ground for him.
A trap is set on his path.
11 Terrors frighten him on every side.
They harass him at every step.
12 His strength is eaten away by hunger,[b]
and disaster is waiting for him to stumble.
13 It eats away pieces of his skin.
Death’s firstborn child eats away pieces of him.
14 He is torn away from the safety of his tent.
He is marched off to the king of terrors.
15 Nothing that belonged to him remains in his tent.[c]
Sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.
16 His roots dry up below,
and his branches wither above.
17 All memory of him perishes from the earth.
No one on the street remembers his name.
18 He is pushed away from the light into the darkness.
He is chased out of the world.
19 He has no posterity or descendants among his people.
He leaves no survivor in his place, where he lived as an alien.
20 People in the west shudder at his fate.
People in the east are overcome with horror.
21 Certainly this is the dwelling place for an evil man.
This is the place for one who does not acknowledge God.
Some Will Enter God’s Rest
4 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be fearful that any one of you may be judged to have failed to reach it. 2 In fact, we have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united in faith with those who did listen. 3 Indeed, we who believe are going to enter his rest.
It happened just as he vowed when he said:
So I swore an oath in my wrath,
“They will never enter my rest.”[a]
And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in this way:
And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.[b]
5 And again in this statement:
They will never enter my rest.[c]
6 Therefore, since it is still the case that some do enter this rest, and yet those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not enter because of disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, namely, “today,” when he later said through David, as quoted before:
Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.[d]
8 For, if Joshua had given them rest, then God would not have spoken later about another day.
9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God rested from his work. 11 Therefore, let us make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.