Psalm 22

For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of the Morning.” A psalm of David.

¹My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me,

so far from my cries of anguish?

²My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,

by night, but I find no rest.

³Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;

you are the one Israel praises.

⁴In you our ancestors put their trust;

they trusted and you delivered them.

⁵To you they cried out and were saved;

in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

⁶But I am a worm and not a man,

scorned by everyone, despised by the people.

⁷All who see me mock me;

they hurl insults, shaking their heads.

⁸“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,

“let the Lord rescue him.

Let him deliver him,

since he delights in him.”

⁹Yet you brought me out of the womb;

you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.

¹⁰From birth I was cast on you;

from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

¹¹Do not be far from me,

for trouble is near

and there is no one to help.

¹²Many bulls surround me;

strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

¹³Roaring lions that tear their prey

open their mouths wide against me.

¹⁴I am poured out like water,

and all my bones are out of joint.

My heart has turned to wax;

it has melted within me.

¹⁵My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,

and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;

you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶Dogs surround me,

a pack of villains encircles me;

they pierce my hands and my feet.

¹⁷All my bones are on display;

people stare and gloat over me.

¹⁸They divide my clothes among them

and cast lots for my garment.

¹⁹But you, Lord, do not be far from me.

You are my strength; come quickly to help me.

²⁰Deliver me from the sword,

my precious life from the power of the dogs.

²¹Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;

save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

²²I will declare your name to my people;

in the assembly I will praise you.

²³You who fear the Lord, praise him!

All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

²⁴For he has not despised or scorned

the suffering of the afflicted one;

he has not hidden his face from him

but has listened to his cry for help.

²⁵From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;

before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.

²⁶The poor will eat and be satisfied;

those who seek the Lord will praise him—

may your hearts live forever!

²⁷All the ends of the earth

will remember and turn to the Lord,

and all the families of the nations

will bow down before him,

²⁸for dominion belongs to the Lord

and he rules over the nations.

²⁹All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;

all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—

those who cannot keep themselves alive.

³⁰Posterity will serve him;

future generations will be told about the Lord.

³¹They will proclaim his righteousness,

declaring to a people yet unborn:

He has done it!