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Psalm 22 (LXX 21) - The Suffering Servant and the Praise of the Resurrection

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Psalm 22 is one of the clearest Passion Psalms in Scripture. David speaks words of abandonment, mockery, pierced hands and feet, exposed bones, divided garments, and then a sudden turn toward praise among the brethren and worship from all nations. Christ takes the opening cry on His lips from the Cross, not as despair, but as the beginning of the Psalm He is fulfilling. The Coptic Church places this Psalm at the heart of Holy Week because it lets the Church stand at Golgotha and hear the Crucified One praying the Scriptures He Himself inspired.

Psalm Metadata

FieldNotes
NKJV / Masoretic numberingPsalm 22
Septuagint / Coptic numberingPsalm 21. After the Septuagint combines NKJV Psalms 9 and 10 as LXX Psalm 9, this section is shifted by one.
Accepted authorDavid by superscription: “For the end, concerning the morning aid, a Psalm of David.”
Period in author’s lifeNo precise Davidic episode is given. It is a Davidic lament of extreme suffering, later revealed as a direct prophecy of Christ’s Passion.
Christ prophecy statusDirect Passion prophecy. The New Testament fulfills or cites multiple lines: the cry of abandonment, mockery, trust in God, divided garments, and praise among the brethren in Hebrews 2:12. The pierced hands and feet in the LXX witness also reveal the manner of His suffering.
Coptic lectionary/service useThe St. Mary Ottawa Holy Pascha eBook of 2018 attests hostile encirclement at Good Friday Third Hour; piercing, bones, garments, and mockery at the Sixth Hour; and praise among the brethren at Hosanna Sunday Eleventh Hour. The selected clauses and the book’s printed references are distinguished below.1, 2, 3
Numbering issueNKJV Psalm 22 corresponds to Brenton / LXX Psalm 21. Brenton includes the superscription as verse 1, so the famous opening cry appears at Brenton LXX 21:2 while common English numbering cites Psalm 22:1. Service books have their own printed labels, which do not always identify the exact Brenton verse or its full extent.

Historical and Scriptural Context

In David’s life, the Psalm is a lament of a righteous sufferer surrounded by enemies. It does not name the historical event. David knew betrayal, pursuit, public shame, and the feeling of being abandoned, but the details exceed any single known episode in his life. His righteousness in the face of enemies does not mean personal sinlessness: his own human voice can speak honestly of transgressions.

In the Gospel, the Psalm becomes unmistakably Christological. The Passion narratives echo it repeatedly. Christ cries its opening words from the Cross. The rulers mock Him with the language of trust in God. The soldiers divide His garments and cast lots. Hebrews 2:12 applies the line “I will declare thy name to my brethren” to Christ. The Psalm moves from suffering to worldwide praise, so it is not only Crucifixion prophecy. In the Church’s reading, its movement embraces Crucifixion, Resurrection, Church, Eucharistic satisfaction, and the conversion of the nations.

Geographical Significance ⛰️

The historical Psalm does not name a location, but the Gospel fulfillment places it at Golgotha. The Psalm’s spiritual geography moves from the dust of death to the midst of the Church, and from the sufferer’s isolation to all the ends of the earth worshipping the Lord.

🕯️ Light from the Word

Psalm 21:1-6, the cry of abandonment and the memory of Israel’s hope

21:1 For the end, concerning the morning aid, a Psalm of David. 21:2 O God, my God, attend to me: why hast thou forsaken me? the account of my transgressions is far from my salvation. 21:3 O my God, I will cry to thee by day, but thou wilt not hear: and by night, and it shall not be accounted for folly to me. 21:4 But thou, the praise of Israel, dwellest in a sanctuary. 21:5 Our fathers hoped in thee; they hoped, and thou didst deliver them. 21:6 They cried to thee, and were saved: they hoped in thee, and were not ashamed.

David begins by addressing the One whose help seems far away. Even the question of forsakenness remains prayer: he says “my God.” In his own voice, “my transgressions” belongs to a sinful human being seeking salvation. His suffering and his sins are both brought before God, but the Psalm does not identify a particular sin as the cause of this crisis.

The day and night do not bring an end to his crying. By day, he speaks of not being heard; by night, Brenton adds that his prayer “shall not be accounted for folly to me.” Continuing to pray in darkness is not dismissed as foolishness. Then the sufferer turns from his present silence toward God’s sanctuary and Israel’s remembered deliverance. The fathers hoped, cried, and were saved. They were not ashamed of having trusted Him. Their history gives David words to hold when his own experience seems to contradict them.

Christ speaks the opening words from the Cross. This is not the Son losing faith in the Father. The eternal Son remains one with the Father. He is praying Israel’s Scripture from inside human suffering. He enters the full depth of abandonment as we experience it, without ceasing to be the beloved Son.

The LXX line “the account of my transgressions is far from my salvation” must therefore be heard differently in Christ’s representative prayer than in David’s own confession. Christ has no sin. In the Passion, He bears our sins, enters the place of sinners, and speaks from the condition of fallen humanity without becoming guilty Himself. Orthodox Christology is precise here: the Word truly assumes our nature and suffers in the flesh, but He remains sinless. Augustine likewise distinguishes Christ’s own person from the sinful human condition whose voice He bears in this prayer.4

The opening cry also invites the Church to remember the whole Psalm: praise, brethren, poor fed, nations worshipping, and the generation to come hearing God’s righteousness. Its later testimony is that God did hear and did not turn away His face. The Cross is real agony, but not meaningless agony.

St Athanasius reads this Psalm as the Saviour’s Passion prayer and teaches that the Psalter gives expression to the movements of the human soul.5 Here those two insights meet. Christ takes the words of the afflicted human soul and makes them His own, so that no sufferer prays alone again.

Psalm 21:7-12, mockery at the Cross

21:7 But I am a worm, and not a man; a reproach of men, and scorn of the people. 21:8 All that saw me mocked me: they spoke with their lips, they shook the head, saying, 21:9 He hoped in the Lord: let him deliver him, let him save him, because he takes pleasure in him. 21:10 For thou art he that drew me out of the womb; my hope from my mother’s breasts. 21:11 I was cast on thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly. 21:12 Stand not aloof from me; for affliction is near; for there is no helper.

The Gospel fulfillment is direct. Matthew records those who passed by blaspheming, wagging their heads. The rulers mock Christ’s trust: “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him.” Psalm 22 had already given the Church the language to recognize what was happening.

“I am a worm, and not a man” names humiliation. Crucifixion was not only execution. It was public degradation. The Son of God accepts the lowest human shame, not because shame is good, but because He is healing even the places where people feel stripped of dignity.

The reference to the womb and mother’s breasts is tender. Even in abandonment, the sufferer remembers being held by God from the beginning. In Christ, the line also quietly touches the mystery of the Theotokos. The One mocked on the Cross truly entered the womb, truly nursed, truly grew, truly belonged to human life from its first vulnerability.

The mockers make deliverance a challenge: let God rescue Him if He takes pleasure in Him. The sufferer answers not by accepting their judgment, but by remembering lifelong dependence on God and asking Him to draw near. Their taunt is not the truth about the Father’s love.

Psalm 21:13-19, pierced hands, exposed bones, and divided garments

21:13 Many bullocks have compassed me: fat bulls have beset me round. 21:14 They have opened their mouth against me, as a ravening and roaring lion. 21:15 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are loosened: my heart in the midst of my belly is become like melting wax. 21:16 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue is glued to my throat; and thou hast brought me down to the dust of death. 21:17 For many dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked doers has beset me round: they pierced my hands and my feet. 21:18 They counted all my bones; and they observed and looked upon me. 21:19 They parted my garments among themselves, and cast lots upon my raiment.

This is the heart of the Passion prophecy. The body is described with terrible precision: poured out, bones loosened, heart like wax, mouth dry, brought to the dust of death, hands and feet pierced, bones counted, garments divided.

The Septuagint witness, “they pierced my hands and my feet,” is especially important for Orthodox reading. It names the cruciform suffering plainly. John 19 explicitly connects the division of garments and casting lots with Scripture’s fulfillment. The St. Mary Ottawa Pascha book places the piercing, bones, garments, and mockery at Good Friday Sixth Hour beside the Crucifixion Gospels.2 The Church is not making a poetic association. She is hearing prophecy fulfilled.

Athanasius identifies these bodily details as signs of the Cross.5 Augustine also reads the loosened bones in relation to Christ’s Body, the Church, whose disciples scattered in fear.6 The Church is not above her Lord. The faithful may be mocked, exposed, wounded, and watched by enemies. Yet in Christ, suffering can be brought into His own prayer rather than becoming isolated despair.

Psalm 21:20-25, deliverance becomes praise among the brethren

21:20 But thou, O Lord, remove not my help afar off: be ready for mine aid. 21:21 Deliver my soul from the sword; my only-begotten one from the power of the dog. 21:22 Save me from the lion’s mouth; and regard my lowliness from the horns of the unicorns. 21:23 I will declare thy name to my brethren: in the midst of the church will I sing praise to thee. 21:24 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye seed of Jacob, glorify him: let all the seed of Israel fear him. 21:25 For he has not despised nor been angry at the supplication of the poor; nor turned away his face from me; but when I cried to him, he heard me.

The petitions continue before praise begins. The speaker asks God not to remove His help, but to be ready to aid him. “My only-begotten one” stands alongside “my soul”: the sufferer pleads for his own precious, vulnerable life. The possessive matters. This is not a change of speaker in which the Father becomes the sufferer praying for His Son.

The lion’s mouth and the horns continue the images of violent power. Brenton still gives a request here: “regard my lowliness.” The sufferer asks God to look upon him amid the danger. The horns have not disappeared, and the prayer has not yet become a declaration that the enemies are gone.

Then the Psalm turns. The sufferer speaks of declaring God’s name to his brethren. Hebrews 2:12 applies this to Christ: after suffering, He stands among His brethren and praises the Father in the assembly.

Brenton’s phrase “in the midst of the church” is powerful. The Greek ekklesia can mean assembly, and the Church rightly hears herself here through Hebrews’ application. The Crucified One does not rise into private triumph. He gathers brethren. He creates the praising assembly.

The reason for praise is stated with particular care. God has not despised the poor person’s supplication, has not been angry at it, and has not turned away His face from the speaker. Positively, “when I cried to him, he heard me.” The Psalm does not erase the opening anguish; it refuses to let that anguish be the final account of God’s response. Felt forsakenness is not proof of rejected prayer.

This movement illuminates the Hosanna Sunday Eleventh Hour selection in the Ottawa Pascha book, printed as Psalm 22:22-23 and corresponding to Brenton LXX 21:23-24.3 The Lord entering His Passion is already the One who will declare God’s name in the congregation. The Cross is moving toward Resurrection and Church.

Psalm 21:26-32, the poor are fed and the nations worship

21:26 My praise is of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. 21:27 The poor shall eat and be satisfied; and they shall praise the Lord that seek him: their heart shall live for ever. 21:28 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him. 21:29 For the kingdom is the Lord’s; and he is the governor of the nations. 21:30 All the fat ones of the earth have eaten and worshipped: all that go down to the earth shall fall down before him: my soul also lives to him. 21:31 And my seed shall serve him: the generation that is coming shall be reported to the Lord. 21:32 And they shall report his righteousness to the people that shall be born, whom the Lord has made.

The first scene is public thanksgiving. The sufferer pays his vows before those who fear God, and the poor share a meal and are satisfied. Deliverance is not kept as a private possession. It becomes praise in the congregation and food for others.

The Church also receives this scene Eucharistically. Augustine interprets the vows in relation to Christ’s sacramental gift: “I will offer the sacraments of My Body and Blood in the sight of them that fear Him.”7 This is Christian reception of the thanksgiving scene, not a replacement of its ordinary feeding. In the Church’s life, Christ crucified and risen feeds the poor in spirit and the poor in body. The afflicted One becomes the host of the great congregation. Those who seek the Lord eat and live.

The horizon widens from the congregation to all the ends of the earth. The nations remember and turn because the kingdom belongs to the Lord, not to the powers that seemed to dominate the sufferer’s life. Fr Tadros Malaty’s modern Coptic pastoral commentary follows this movement from the Passion into Resurrection, the gathered Church, and the proclamation of Christ among the nations.8

The “fat ones of the earth” bring the prosperous into the same worshipping horizon as the poor. Wealth does not place anyone outside the Lord’s rule. Nor does it remove mortality: all who go down to the earth must fall before Him. This vision of the Lord’s dominion is not a promise of automatic salvation apart from turning to Him. The speaker makes his own response personal: “my soul also lives to him.” The life for which he pleaded is now directed toward God.

The final lines carry that service beyond one lifetime. “My seed shall serve him” looks toward those who follow the speaker. Notice the direction of the two reports: the coming generation is first reported to the Lord; then His righteousness is reported to people yet to be born, whom the Lord has made. The future generation belongs before God, and it receives a testimony about His righteousness. Faithful remembrance becomes faithful proclamation.

The Psalm ends with mission. The Passion is not a tragic private event. It is the revelation by which the nations worship. The Cross is the throne from which the King draws all peoples.

The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖

Coptic lectionary and service placement

The St. Mary Ottawa Holy Pascha eBook, issued for Lent 1734 A.M., 2018 A.D., gives three especially clear settings for this Psalm. Its printed references are preserved here separately from the corresponding words in Brenton.

  • Good Friday Third Hour, printed Psalm 22:16 within “Psalm 38: 17& 22: 16.” The selection speaks of dogs surrounding the sufferer and the congregation of the wicked enclosing him. It corresponds to the opening part of Brenton LXX 21:17 and stops before the pierced-hands-and-feet clause. Hostile encirclement prepares the Church to hear Christ’s condemnation and the events leading to His Crucifixion. It is not the dry-strength verse displayed above as Brenton 21:16.1

  • Good Friday Sixth Hour, printed “Psalm 37: 21, 22 & 21:16,17,8,9.” The actual words from this Psalm begin with pierced hands and feet, continue through counted bones and divided garments, and then return to the mockers’ lips, head-shaking, and challenge that God deliver Him. Their counterpart is Brenton LXX 21:17b-19 and 21:8b-9. These are the clauses the hour sets beside the Crucifixion Gospels. The working Katameros cycle labels the Psalm excerpts differently, as Psalm 22:16-18 and 22:7-8; the book’s actual words make the connection clear.2

  • Hosanna Sunday Eleventh Hour, printed Psalm 22:22-23. The selection corresponds to Brenton LXX 21:23-24, including the final call for Israel to fear the Lord. Beside Matthew 20:20-28, praise among the brethren is heard with Christ’s teaching about His cup, service, and the giving of His life. The whole Psalm’s movement toward gathered praise deepens this appointed excerpt without making the entire ending part of the reading.3

Hymnography and prayer resonance

During Holy Week, the Coptic Church does not treat Psalm 22 as background poetry. It becomes the Church’s vocabulary at the Cross. The repeated Pascha structure of Psalm and Gospel lets the Psalm interpret the Gospel and the Gospel reveal the Psalm.

Iconography Connection 🖼️

Psalm 22 belongs visually with the icon of the Crucifixion. The parted garments, pierced hands and feet, mockery, thirst, and exposed body all stand beneath this Psalm. It also belongs with icons of the Resurrection and with the Eucharistic assembly, because the Psalm ends with the poor eating, the brethren praising, and the nations worshipping.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

  1. Pray abandonment without abandoning faith. Christ sanctifies the cry, “Why have You forsaken me?” The faithful do not need to pretend pain is smaller than it is. Bring it to God, even when the prayer is only a question or a plea for help.

  2. Do not stop at verse 1. Many people know the cry but not the ending. Psalm 22 gives the soul words for both lament and praise. Praise is not a deadline or a test of whether your grief has been faithful. Keep praying, and allow others to accompany and support you when words are difficult.

  3. Let Christ enter shame. The Psalm names public humiliation. If you carry shame, exposure, mockery, or memories that make you feel less than human, bring them to the Crucified One. He has entered that place.

  4. See the Cross as the birth of the Church. Christ declares the Father’s name among His brethren. The Church is not an audience watching suffering from a distance. She is gathered by the risen Sufferer. Make room in that fellowship for someone who is isolated or suffering.

  5. Feed the poor because the Crucified feeds you. The poor eating and being satisfied is not decorative. Eucharistic life must become mercy, hospitality, and real care for the needy. Share a meal, help with groceries, or support someone whose bodily needs might otherwise remain unseen.

Footnotes

  1. St. Mary Ottawa, Holy Pascha, Lent 1734 A.M., 2018 A.D. eBook, Good Friday Third Hour, printed p. 569, Psalm heading “Psalm 38: 17& 22: 16”; Gospel readings follow on pp. 570-575. The words from this Psalm end with the wicked congregation enclosing the sufferer, before the piercing clause. ↩ ↩2

  2. St. Mary Ottawa, Holy Pascha, Lent 1734 A.M., 2018 A.D. eBook, Good Friday Sixth Hour, printed p. 591, heading “Psalm 37: 21, 22 & 21:16,17,8,9”; Crucifixion Gospels follow from p. 592. This historical edition prints John 19:13-27; the working pierresaid Katameros cycle lists John 19:1-12 for its Sixth Hour group. The Psalm content described here follows the actual words printed on p. 591, not a merger of the two witnesses. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. St. Mary Ottawa, Holy Pascha, Lent 1734 A.M., 2018 A.D. eBook, Hosanna Sunday Eleventh Hour, printed pp. 68-69, “Psalm 22: 22- 23” with Matthew 20:20-28. The Psalm excerpt includes declaration among the brethren, praise in the assembly, and the calls for Jacob to glorify God and Israel to fear Him. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. St Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 22, §§1-2, distinguishing the Crucified Lord from the old human condition whose mortality He bears. English translation by an anonymous scholar, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, edited by Philip Schaff (1888), newadvent.org. ↩

  5. St Athanasius of Alexandria, Letter to Marcellinus concerning the Psalms, the discussion of Psalm 21 in the account of the Saviour’s suffering in the flesh, and the later discussion of the Psalter’s portrayal of the soul’s movements. Paraphrased; the translator of the English version used here is unidentified. ↩ ↩2

  6. St Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 22, §15, interpreting the scattered bones in relation to the disciples and the Church, newadvent.org. ↩

  7. St Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 22, §26; see also §27 on the food of the heart. Public-domain English translation by an anonymous scholar, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8, edited by Philip Schaff (1888), newadvent.org. ↩

  8. Fr Tadros Y. Malaty, Psalms, chapter 22, “The Glorious Passions of Christ,” especially “From Passions to Glories” and the concluding treatment of the glorified Christ, myorthodoxbooks.org. Used in paraphrase as modern pastoral commentary, not as a direct source for the ancient quotations it includes. ↩ ↩2

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