Bible Study Psalms 22
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Psalms 22 · WEB

My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?

Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.

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My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
2My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don't answer. In the night season, and am not silent.
3But you are holy, you who inhabit the praises of Israel.
4Our fathers trusted in you. They trusted, and you delivered them.
5They cried to you, and were delivered. They trusted in you, and were not disappointed.
6But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.
7All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,
8"He trusts in Yahweh. Let Yahweh deliver him. Let him rescue him, since he delights in him."
9But you brought me out of the womb. You made me trust while at my mother's breasts.
10I was thrown on you from my mother's womb. You are my God since my mother bore me.
11Don't be far from me, for trouble is near. For there is no one to help.
12Many bulls have encircled me. Strong bulls of Bashan have surrounded me.
13They open their mouths wide against me, lions tearing prey and roaring.
14I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me.
15My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have brought me into the dust of death.
16For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet.
17I can count all of my bones. They look and stare at me.
18They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing.
19But don't be far off, Yahweh. You are my help. Hurry to help me.
20Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog.
21Save me from the lion's mouth! Yes, you have heard me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22I will declare your name to my brothers. In the midst of the assembly, I will praise you.
23You who fear Yahweh, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him! Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel!
24For he has not despised nor scorned the affliction of the afflicted. He has not hidden his face from him, but has listened to his cry for help.
25My praise of you comes in the great assembly. I will pay my vows before those who fear him.
26The humble shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek him shall praise Yahweh. Let your hearts live forever.
27All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Yahweh. All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you.
28For the kingdom is Yahweh's. He is the ruler over the nations.
29All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him, even he who can't keep his soul alive.
30Posterity shall serve him. Future generations shall be told about Yahweh.
31They shall come and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born, for he has done it.
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Summary

Psalm 22 is the most directly Messianic psalm in the Psalter. It begins in utter desolation — "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" — moves through vivid descriptions of suffering (mockery, dehydration, pierced hands and feet, garments divided by lot), and pivots dramatically to praise when God hears. Jesus quoted verse 1 from the cross (Matthew 27:46). The details of the psalm are fulfilled with precision in the crucifixion narrative, leading many scholars to call it a prophetic passion narrative written a thousand years before Christ.

Themes

  • Abandonment and the cry of dereliction
  • The tension between present suffering and past faithfulness (vv. 3-5)
  • Physical suffering described in prophetic detail
  • The pivot from lament to praise without circumstances changing
  • Universal worship as the fruit of one man's suffering and vindication

Key verses

  • Ps 22:1 — “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
  • Ps 22:16 — “They pierced my hands and my feet.”
  • Ps 22:18 — “They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing.”
  • Ps 22:24 — “He has not despised nor scorned the affliction of the afflicted... but has listened to his cry for help.”

Context & background

Jesus's quotation of verse 1 from the cross (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34) makes Psalm 22 the most explicitly Messianic psalm in the Psalter. Verse 18 is quoted directly in John 19:24 as fulfilled in the soldiers casting lots for Jesus's garments; verse 8 appears in Matthew 27:43 as the taunt of the chief priests; verse 16's "pierced hands and feet" is cited in many traditions as a prophecy of crucifixion. The pivot in verse 22 — "I will declare your name to my brothers" — is quoted in Hebrews 2:12 and attributed to Jesus. David's individual suffering becomes a template the Messiah inhabits in full.

Cross-references

  • Hebrews 2:12 — Jesus quotes v. 22 as his own declaration to his brothers
  • Isaiah 53 — the Suffering Servant who bears griefs, is pierced, and intercedes
  • John 19:24 — soldiers cast lots for garments, explicitly fulfilling v. 18
  • Matthew 27:35-46 — the crucifixion fulfills vv. 1, 7-8, 16, 18
  • Revelation 7:9-10 — the great multitude from all nations worshiping — v. 27's fulfillment

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    What words does the psalm open with that Jesus quoted from the cross?

  2. Observe

    Which specific physical sufferings in verses 14-18 correspond to the crucifixion accounts?

  3. Interpret

    How can the psalm hold together both "Why have you forsaken me?" (v. 1) and "he has not despised the affliction of the afflicted... but has listened" (v. 24)?

  4. Interpret

    What does it mean for Psalm 22 to be both genuinely David's experience and genuinely prophetic of Christ?

  5. Apply

    When believers feel most distant from God, what does the psalm model as the proper response?

  6. Apply

    How does the universal worship at the psalm's end (v. 27 — "all the ends of the earth shall... turn to Yahweh") change how you think about suffering?

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