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Psalm 34:20-22
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 34:20-22
New Catholic Bible
20 [a]The misfortunes of the righteous man are many,
but the Lord delivers him,[b] from all of them.
21 He watches with care over all his bones;
not a single one will be broken.
22 [c]Evil will bring death to the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
Footnotes
- Psalm 34:20 No matter how many are the troubles of the righteous man, the Lord will deliver him (see Job 5:19; 2 Tim 3:11), protecting all his bones, a phrase representative of his whole being. Not a single one will be broken: John applies this text to Jesus on the cross as the righteous man par excellence. Hence, this text is regarded as a prophecy about Christ when he was crucified. Although it was the custom of the Romans to break the legs of a person they had crucified so that death would come more quickly, it was not carried out in this case and not one of Christ’s bones was broken.
- Psalm 34:20 Delivers him: God promises to be our source of power, courage, and wisdom to help us through our troubles; at times he even chooses to take them away from us.
- Psalm 34:22 The wicked will perish in their own evil and be condemned (see Ps 9:16), but the righteous will be saved by the Lord (see Ex 6:6; Lk 1:68; Rev 14:3).