Psalm 22:1 kjv
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
Psalm 22:1 nkjv
To the Chief Musician. Set to "The Deer of the Dawn." A Psalm of David. My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?
Psalm 22:1 niv
For the director of music. To the tune of "The Doe of the Morning." A psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?
Psalm 22:1 esv
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
Psalm 22:1 nlt
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Why are you so far away when I groan for help?
Psalm 22 1 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Matt 27:46 | About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" | Jesus' direct quote on the cross. |
| Mark 15:34 | And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" | Jesus' direct quote on the cross. |
| Isa 53:4-5 | Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted… | Christ bears sin, leading to 'forsaking'. |
| 2 Cor 5:21 | For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. | Explains Jesus' sin-bearing and separation. |
| Gal 3:13 | Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us... | Christ becomes a curse to free us. |
| Ps 22:6 | But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men, and despised by the people. | Prophetic description of Christ's humiliation. |
| Ps 22:7-8 | All those who see me ridicule me... saying, "He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue him; Let Him deliver him, since He delights in him." | Scoffing at the suffering Messiah. |
| Ps 22:14-15 | I am poured out like water... my strength is dried up... | Physical agony of the crucified one. |
| Ps 22:16 | For dogs have surrounded me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced My hands and My feet. | Prophecy of crucifixion method. |
| Ps 22:18 | They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots. | Fulfillment at the cross. |
| Ps 22:24 | For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard. | God ultimately hears and answers. |
| Heb 5:7-8 | who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears... though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience... | Jesus' cries and suffering in His humanity. |
| Phil 2:8 | And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. | Jesus' humiliation and obedience. |
| Deut 21:23 | for he who is hanged is accursed of God... | The curse associated with hanging (cross). |
| Hab 1:13 | You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness. | God's holiness regarding sin, relevant to separation. |
| Lam 3:8 | Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer. | A similar cry of unheard prayer. |
| Ps 13:1 | How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? | Another psalm of lament and perceived abandonment. |
| Ps 88:14 | Lord, why do You cast off my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? | A similar deep cry of divine abandonment. |
| Job 23:3 | Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come to His seat! | A longing for God's presence in distress. |
| Ps 38:21 | Do not forsake me, O Lord; O my God, be not far from me! | Similar plea against forsaking. |
| Zech 13:7 | "Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered..." | Prophecy of the Shepherd's affliction. |
| Ps 18:6 | In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice... | Demonstrates God hears cries for help. |
| Jn 19:28 | After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, said, "I thirst;" that the Scripture might be fulfilled. | Fulfillment leading to the end of suffering. |
| Is 49:15 | "Can a woman forget her nursing child... Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you." | God's unfailing faithfulness contrasted with felt abandonment. |
| Rom 8:32 | He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all... | God's ultimate purpose in Christ's suffering. |
Psalm 22 verses
Psalm 22 1 Meaning
Psalm 22:1 articulates a profound cry of dereliction, voiced as a desperate lament to God in a moment of extreme distress and perceived abandonment. The speaker expresses deep anguish and a sense of being forsaken by the very source of their trust and salvation. It conveys a poignant questioning of God's absence and delay in deliverance, highlighting the raw agony of feeling cut off from divine help during intense suffering. This verse is pre-eminently understood as a prophetic utterance regarding the suffering Messiah.
Psalm 22 1 Context
Psalm 22 is a deeply significant lament Psalm that transitions from intense suffering to ultimate triumph and universal worship. Attributed to David, it reflects his personal experiences of persecution, betrayal, and deep distress, where he felt alienated from God. However, its detailed prophecies about humiliation, physical agony, mocking, and specific events of the cross point far beyond David to the future Messiah. The immediate context of verse 1 initiates the Psalm's depiction of profound personal agony, perceived divine absence, and desperate pleas for help. It sets the stage for a dramatic recounting of suffering, making the opening cry all the more impactful as a foreshadowing of the ultimate suffering of Christ on the cross.
Psalm 22 1 Word analysis
- My God, my God: (Hebrew: Eli, Eli) This double invocation underscores an intense personal relationship with the divine, yet in this context, it emphasizes the shocking nature of the perceived abandonment. It is a desperate cry directed toward the one ultimate source of hope and trust, despite the present desolation. The repetition intensifies the agony and bewilderment. Even in the depths of despair, the psalmist retains a possessive claim on God, affirming faith amidst profound pain.
- why: (Hebrew: lamah) This interrogative is not a challenge to God's authority or existence, but rather an anguished plea for understanding, an expression of profound perplexity and desolation. It reflects the psalmist's inability to comprehend the divine silence and perceived absence in the face of such overwhelming suffering.
- have you forsaken me: (Hebrew: azavtani) This word signifies a complete abandonment, desertion, or leaving behind. It describes the most profound spiritual pain – the feeling of separation from God. In the context of the cross, this is understood as Jesus bearing the full weight of humanity's sin, which necessarily involves a breaking of fellowship with God, as God's pure nature cannot fellowship with sin. It's a separation in the bearing of sin, not a separation of the divine essence of the Father and the Son.
- Why are you so far from saving me: (Hebrew: rachok mishu'ati) This phrase elaborates on the initial question, focusing on God's apparent distance and inaction regarding deliverance. It conveys a feeling that God's usual nearness and power to save are inexplicably withdrawn or withheld. The "far" denotes a spatial and experiential distance, intensifying the feeling of helplessness.
- from the words of my groaning: (Hebrew: divrei sha'agati) This refers to the content and nature of the cry. "Groaning" (sha'agati) translates as a deep, loud roar or guttural cry, more intense than a simple moan. It is an outburst of severe pain and desperate lament, expressing an anguish so profound that it cannot be contained. The "words" indicate that this is a conscious and articulated expression of deepest suffering, seeking response even if currently perceived as unheard.
Psalm 22 1 Bonus section
The quoting of Psalm 22:1 by Jesus from the cross validates His complete humanity, showing that He truly experienced the full gamut of human emotions, including desolation and perceived abandonment. It signifies His identification with the human condition and the curse of sin. Furthermore, it highlights the purposeful suffering of Christ, demonstrating that He endured the ultimate penalty for sin – separation from God – on behalf of humanity. This act provides the deepest theological explanation for how redemption was achieved. The shift within Psalm 22 itself, from desperate plea (v. 1) to triumphant praise and universal dominion (vv. 22-31), reveals the divine trajectory: suffering unto glorification. This movement teaches us that lament, even the most profound, can lead to profound worship when faith endures through perceived abandonment.
Psalm 22 1 Commentary
Psalm 22:1 stands as one of the most poignant expressions of human suffering and divine abandonment in the Scriptures, serving as a prototype for lament while profoundly foreshadowing the experience of Christ. David's original lament voiced the very real human agony of feeling forsaken by God in trials. Yet, its ultimate significance resides in its direct fulfillment through Jesus Christ on the cross. His utterance of these exact words ("My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?") reveals the true horror of bearing the world's sin. At that moment, the spotless Lamb of God, who "knew no sin" (2 Cor 5:21), became identified with sin, causing a temporary, horrific disruption of the eternal communion between the Father and the Son. This "forsaking" was not a metaphysical separation of the Trinity but an experiential one, where the Father's pure eyes could not look upon the Son as sin (Hab 1:13; Gal 3:13). It underscores the infinite holiness of God and the heinousness of sin, for which the Son paid the ultimate, unimaginable price. This cry is paradoxically also a testament to profound faith; Jesus does not question God's existence or His character, but the reason for His apparent abandonment, reflecting obedience even unto death (Phil 2:8). For believers, this verse validates the pain of perceived divine absence in their own struggles, offering a template for honest lament, while simultaneously pointing to the foundational truth of atonement accomplished on the cross. It reminds us that our Deliverer truly understands the deepest anguish.