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44 He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”(A)

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15 A prophet like me[a] will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kindred; that is the one to whom you shall listen.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 18:15 A prophet like me: from the context (opposition to the practices described in vv. 10–11) it seems that Moses is referring in general to all the true prophets who were to succeed him. This passage came to be understood in a quasi-Messianic sense in the New Testament (Mt 17:5; Jn 6:14; 7:40; Acts 3:22; 7:37).

Psalm 22[a]

The Prayer of an Innocent Person

For the leader; according to “The deer of the dawn.”[b] A psalm of David.

I

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
    Why so far from my call for help,
    from my cries of anguish?(A)
My God, I call by day, but you do not answer;
    by night, but I have no relief.(B)
Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the glory of Israel.(C)
In you our fathers trusted;
    they trusted and you rescued them.
To you they cried out and they escaped;
    in you they trusted and were not disappointed.(D)
[c]But I am a worm, not a man,
    scorned by men, despised by the people.(E)
All who see me mock me;
    they curl their lips and jeer;
    they shake their heads at me:(F)
“He relied on the Lord—let him deliver him;
    if he loves him, let him rescue him.”(G)
10 For you drew me forth from the womb,
    made me safe at my mother’s breasts.
11 Upon you I was thrust from the womb;
    since my mother bore me you are my God.(H)
12 Do not stay far from me,
    for trouble is near,
    and there is no one to help.(I)

II

13 Many bulls[d] surround me;
    fierce bulls of Bashan encircle me.
14 They open their mouths against me,
    lions that rend and roar.(J)
15 Like water my life drains away;
    all my bones are disjointed.
My heart has become like wax,
    it melts away within me.
16 As dry as a potsherd is my throat;
    my tongue cleaves to my palate;
    you lay me in the dust of death.[e]
17 Dogs surround me;
    a pack of evildoers closes in on me.
They have pierced my hands and my feet
18     I can count all my bones.(K)
They stare at me and gloat;

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 22 A lament unusual in structure and in intensity of feeling. The psalmist’s present distress is contrasted with God’s past mercy in Ps 22:2–12. In Ps 22:13–22 enemies surround the psalmist. The last third is an invitation to praise God (Ps 22:23–27), becoming a universal chorus of praise (Ps 22:28–31). The Psalm is important in the New Testament. Its opening words occur on the lips of the crucified Jesus (Mk 15:34; Mt 27:46), and several other verses are quoted, or at least alluded to, in the accounts of Jesus’ passion (Mt 27:35, 43; Jn 19:24).
  2. 22:1 The deer of the dawn: apparently the title of the melody.
  3. 22:7 I am a worm, not a man: the psalmist’s sense of isolation and dehumanization, an important motif of Ps 22, is vividly portrayed here.
  4. 22:13–14 Bulls: the enemies of the psalmist are also portrayed in less-than-human form, as wild animals (cf. Ps 22:17, 21–22). Bashan: a grazing land northeast of the Sea of Galilee, famed for its cattle, cf. Dt 32:14; Ez 39:18; Am 4:1.
  5. 22:16 The dust of death: the netherworld, the domain of the dead.

Chapter 53

Who would believe what we have heard?[a]
    To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?(A)
He grew up like a sapling before him,(B)
    like a shoot from the parched earth;
He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye,
    no beauty to draw us to him.
He was spurned and avoided by men,
    a man of suffering, knowing pain,
Like one from whom you turn your face,
    spurned, and we held him in no esteem.(C)

Yet it was our pain that he bore,
    our sufferings he endured.
We thought of him as stricken,
    struck down by God[b] and afflicted,(D)
But he was pierced for our sins,
    crushed for our iniquity.
He bore the punishment that makes us whole,
    by his wounds we were healed.(E)
We had all gone astray like sheep,
    all following our own way;
But the Lord laid upon him[c]
    the guilt of us all.(F)

Though harshly treated, he submitted
    and did not open his mouth;
Like a lamb led to slaughter
    or a sheep silent before shearers,
    he did not open his mouth.(G)
Seized and condemned, he was taken away.
    Who would have thought any more of his destiny?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
    struck for the sins of his people.
He was given a grave among the wicked,
    a burial place with evildoers,
Though he had done no wrong,
    nor was deceit found in his mouth.(H)
10 But it was the Lord’s will to crush him with pain.
By making his life as a reparation offering,[d]
    he shall see his offspring, shall lengthen his days,
    and the Lord’s will shall be accomplished through him.
11 Because of his anguish he shall see the light;
    because of his knowledge he shall be content;
My servant, the just one, shall justify the many,
    their iniquity he shall bear.
12 Therefore I will give him his portion among the many,
    and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty,
Because he surrendered himself to death,
    was counted among the transgressors,
Bore the sins of many,
    and interceded for the transgressors.(I)

Footnotes

  1. 53:1–10 What we have heard: this fourth servant oracle is introduced by words of the Lord (52:13–15) but is now continued by speakers who are not identified, perhaps those referred to in 52:15, perhaps Israel (cf. “struck for the sins of his people”—v. 8). The Lord is again the speaker in vv. 11–13.
  2. 53:4 Struck down by God: the Bible often sees suffering as a punishment for sin (e.g., Ps 6:2; 32:1–5), yet sin sometimes appears to go unpunished and the innocent often suffer (cf. Ps 73; the Book of Job). In the case of the servant, the onlookers initially judge him guilty because of his suffering but, in some way not explained, they come to understand that his sufferings are for the sins of others. One notes the element of surprise, for such vicarious suffering, in the form described here, is without parallel in the Old Testament.
  3. 53:6 The Lord laid upon him: the servant’s suffering is no accidental or casual matter, but part of God’s plan; see also v. 10. The bystanders’ speculation of v. 4 is verified, but not in the sense intended by them.
  4. 53:10–11 Reparation offering: the Hebrew term ’asham is used of a particular kind of sacrifice, one that is intended as compensation for that which is due because of guilt. See Lv 5:14–26 and note. Justify: the verb means “to be acquitted,” “declared innocent,” but since the servant bears “their iniquity,” an effective rather than simply legal action is suggested.

10 [a]Concerning this salvation, prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and investigated it, 11 investigating the time and circumstances that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated when it testified in advance to the sufferings destined for Christ and the glories to follow them.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 1:10–12 The Spirit of Christ (1 Pt 1:11) is here shown to have been present in the prophets, moving them to search, investigate, and prophesy about the grace of salvation that was to come (1 Pt 1:10), and in the apostles impelling them to preach the fulfillment of salvation in the message of Christ’s sufferings and glory (1 Pt 1:12).