Psalm 22

Wilda Gafney, from A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church Year

  1. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

    Why are you so far away from my deliverance,
    from the words of my groaning?

    My God, I cry by day, and you do not answer;
    and by night, and there is no rest for me.

  2. Yet you are holy,
    Enthroned on the praises of Israel.

    In you our mothers and fathers trusted;
    They trusted, and you rescued them.

    To you they cried, and were freed;
    In you they trusted, and they were not put to shame.

  3. But I am a worm, and not human;
    Scorned by humankind, and despised by people. 

    All who see me mock me;
    They flap their lips at me, they shake their heads:
    “Commit yourself to the SAVING ONE; let God rescue
    And deliver the one in whom God delights!”

  4. Yet it was you who drew me from the womb;
    Keeping me safe on my mother’s breast.

    On you was I cast from birth,
    And since my mother’s womb you have been my God.

  5. Be not far from me, 
    For trouble in near
    And there is none to help.

  6. Many bulls surround me,
    Mighty bulls of Bashan encompass me;
    They open wide their mouths at me,
    Like a lion, ravaging and roaring.

    I am poured out like water,
    And all my bones are disjointed.

    My heart is like wax;
    It is melted within my being.

    My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
    And my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
    In the dust of death you lay me down.

  7. For dogs are all around me; 
    A conclave of evildoers encircles me.

    Like a lion they ravage my hands and feet.
    I can count all my bones.

    They gloat and stare at me.
    They divide my clothes among themselves, 

    And for my clothing they cast lots.

  8. SAVING GOD, be not far away!
    My strength, hasten to help me!

    Deliver my soul from the sword, 
    My life from the clutch of the dog!

    Save me from the mouth of the lion!
    For on the horns of the wild oxen you have responded to me.

  9. I will tell of your name to my sisters and brothers;
    In the midst of the congregation I will praise you;
    You who revere the FOUNT OF LIFE, praise her!

    All the offspring of Leah and Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah glorify her.
    Stand in awe of her all you of Rebekah’s line.
    For she did not despise or abhor 

    The affliction of the afflicted;
    She did not hide her face from me,
    And when I cried to her, she heard.

  10. On your account is my praise in the great congregation;
    My vows I will pay before those who revere her.

    The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
    Those who seek her shall praise the MOTHER OF ALL.

    May your hearts live forever!

  11. All the ends of the earth shall remember
    And turn to the WELLSPRING OF LIFE;
    And all the families of the nations
    Shall worship before her.

    For sovereignty belongs to the SHE WHO IS HOLY,
    And she rules over the nations.

  12. They consume and they bow down,
    all the fat ones of the earth before her,
    They bend their knees, all who go down to the dust,
    And cannot save their soul.

    Later descendants will serve her;
    Future generations will be told about our God,
    They will go and proclaim her deliverance to a people yet unborn,
    Saying that she has done it.