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Psalm 22:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 22:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 22[a]
Suffering and Triumph of the Messiah
1 For the director.[b] According to “The Deer of the Dawn.” A psalm of David.
2 [c]My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why have you paid no heed to my call for help,
to my cries of anguish?
Footnotes
- Psalm 22:1 This psalm draws its inspiration from the “Songs of the Suffering Righteous Man (or Servant)” (Isa 52:13—53:12) and from the “Confessions of Jeremiah” (Jer 15:15; 17:15; 20:7); it ends, as they do, with the proclamation that the sufferings of the righteous man will restore life to humanity. Such a text seems planned, as it were, to become the prayer of Christ (Mk 15:34), and the Gospels have also singled out details from it that describe in advance the Passion of Jesus (e.g., Mt 27:35, 39, 43; Jn 19:23f, 28). The author of Hebrews even placed the words of verse 23 on the lips of Jesus (Heb 2:12). Indeed, no other psalm is so often quoted in the New Testament.
In praying this psalm, we can keep in mind that Christ continues to pray it through the Church and Christians, since he continues the mystery of his abandonment in his Mystical Body. - Psalm 22:1 For the director: these words are thought to be a musical or liturgical notation. According to “The Deer of the Dawn”: nothing is known about these words.
- Psalm 22:2 Why? The question erupts from the heart of a righteous man. Yesterday he was still enjoying God’s favor as a son, but now he feels abandoned for no reason and afflicted with atrocious sufferings and made the laughingstock of free-thinkers. Has God changed?
