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Psalm 22:15-17
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 22:15-17
New Catholic Bible
15 My strength is trickling away like water,
and all my bones are dislocated.
My heart[a] has turned to wax
and melts within me.
16 My mouth is as dry as clayware,
and my tongue sticks to my jaw;[b]
you have laid me down in the dust of death.
17 A pack of dogs surrounds me;
a band of evildoers is closing in on me.
They have pierced my hands and my feet;[c]
Footnotes
- Psalm 22:15 Bones . . . heart: his combination of “bones” and “heart” (see note on Ps 4:8) was used to refer to the whole person (body and spirit) (see Ps 102:4; Prov 14:30; 15:30; Isa 66:14).
- Psalm 22:16 My mouth . . . jaw: see Jn 19:28 (“I thirst”). The dust of death: the netherworld, domain of the dead; the author is using the language of his day, as in Mesopotamian descriptions of the netherworld (see Job 7:9, 21).
- Psalm 22:17 Pierced my hands and my feet: his limbs are wounded by the dogs as he seeks to fend off their attacks (see also Isa 53:5; Zec 12:10; Jn 19:34). Although the phrase finds its complete fulfillment in Christ’s crucifixion, it is not expressly used by the evangelists in the Passion account.
