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Psalm 22

Plea for Deliverance from Suffering and Hostility

To the leader: according to The Deer of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.
¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
   Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
² O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
   and by night, but find no rest.

³ Yet you are holy,
   enthroned on the praises of Israel.
⁴ In you our ancestors trusted;
   they trusted, and you delivered them.
⁵ To you they cried, and were saved;
   in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

⁶ But I am a worm, and not human;
   scorned by others, and despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock at me;
   they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
⁸ ‘Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—
   let him rescue the one in whom he delights!’

⁹ Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
   you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
¹⁰ On you I was cast from my birth,
   and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
¹¹ Do not be far from me,
   for trouble is near
   and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls encircle me,
   strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
¹³ they open wide their mouths at me,
   like a ravening and roaring lion.

¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
   and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
   it is melted within my breast;
¹⁵ my mouth^* is dried up like a potsherd,
   and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
   you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶ For dogs are all around me;
   a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shrivelled;^*
17 I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
¹⁸ they divide my clothes among themselves,
   and for my clothing they cast lots.

¹⁹ But you, O Lord, do not be far away!
   O my help, come quickly to my aid!
²⁰ Deliver my soul from the sword,
   my 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 rescued^* me.
²² I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;^*
   in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
²³ You who fear the Lord, praise him!
   All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
   stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
²⁴ For he did not despise or abhor
   the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,^*
   but heard when I^* cried to him.

²⁵ From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
   my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
²⁶ The poor^* shall eat and be satisfied;
   those who seek him shall praise the Lord.
   May your hearts live for ever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth shall remember
   and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations
   shall worship before him.^*
28 For dominion belongs to the Lord,
   and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ To him,^* indeed, shall all who sleep in^* the earth bow down;
   before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
   and I shall live for him.^*
30 Posterity will serve him;
   future generations will be told about the Lord,
³¹ and^* proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
   saying that he has done it.