PSALM 22: 8-11 (Lectionary Translation)

8 “He trusted in the Lord; let him deliver him; *
let him rescue him, if he delights in him.”

9 Yet you are he who took me out of the womb, *
and kept me safe upon my mother’s breast.

10 I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born; *
you were my God when I was still in my mother’s womb.

11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, *
and there is none to help.

PSALM 22 (PART 2):

“You Are My Deliverance”

Psalm 22:9-12 - Rendered from the Hebrew by Henry Ralph Carse

My rendering of Psalm 22 follows the original Hebrew MT (Masoretic Text), with the verse numbers differing from the lectionary translation above.

Psalm 22’s opening “movement” (vss. 1-8 MT) was a cry of abandonment; in this second “movement,” comfort and hope are found. In the first 8 verses, the divine is called ‘el / ‘elohim (Strength/Power). In verse 9, however, the ineffable name YHWH (Ever-Becoming) appears for the first time. This marks a distinct transition in mood and theme. The psalmist turns away now from the external experience of abandonment, mockery, and “God-less” shame – and pauses to look inward for a deeper spiritual comfort.

PSALM 22:9-12 – “You Are My Deliverance”

9 O, Ever-Becoming! – naked, I will not hide from you!
You are my deliverance; rescue me with your divine desire!

10 Ever-birthing, your cry rings true -
womb-within, you mother me,
until, strong waters breaking, you bear me forth

11 out of mother-womb and into world,
yet always cradled safely at your breast.
You are the only strength I need.

12 Be not far from me, be every bit as near
as this close sorrow in my helpless heart.

NOTES TO THE RENDERING OF PSALM 22:9-12

Vs 9: “… Ever-Becoming…” – The divine name – YHWH – is a verb, and evokes continual being, always renewed, and is in stark contrast to the nominal ‘elohim (Strengths/Mights) of the earlier verses.

“…naked, I will not hide…” - The Hebrew verb gol is difficult. The Septuagint has elpisen (“…he hoped in his Lord…”). This leads to reading this verse as part of the mockery spoken about the psalmist, rather than the latter’s own personal thoughts. But, for Psalm 37:5, where the same verb appears, the Septuagint has apokalupson…ten hodon… (“…reveal the path…”). I think “reveal” is the most likely rendering here as well – or even “to be naked.” There seems an echo between Psalm 22 and Psalm 37, with the human and divine yearning to discover each other.

“…with your divine desire…” – Translators shy away from attributing desire to the divine, but this is the sense of the Hebrew hafetz. “Delight” is perhaps too light a word.

Vs 10: “Ever-birthing…” This radical encounter with “deliverance” (an apt word here) is couched entirely in mothering and birth-giving images. The Hebrew verb (gohi) is unusual and difficult. In Micah 4:10 the same word describes Jerusalem as a woman about to give birth; this seems an apt meaning in our psalm as well. The name of a spring that gushes forth from the rock in Jerusalem (the Gihon) has the same root. All these birthing images combine in this verse.

“… your cry… strong waters breaking…you bear me…” - The sense of bursting waters is inherent in the word gohi, as is the cry of pain voiced by a birth-giver in travail.

Vs. 11: “…out of mother-womb…”; “cradled safely…” – The images of a mother’s tenderness are layered into the Hebrew text: mibeten (“from [the mother’s] belly”); ‘al shdei ‘imi (“on my mother’s breasts”); merahem / mibeten (“from the womb / from the belly”). I think the odd form hoshlachti merahem (“I have been sent forth from the womb”) can be best rendered with an active verb: “you bear me forth … into the world.”

“…the only strength…” – The Hebrew ‘eli ‘ata can be translated “you are my God.” This harks back to the first verses of the psalm. But the speaker, who there felt abandoned by the “Powers that Be” is now at peace knowing that the divine love cradling us is “all the strength we need.”

Vs 12: “…every bit as near…” – This phrase beautifully juxtaposes the words “far” (rahoq) and “near” (qarov). I have tried to follow this poetic twist, while adding “close” to describe the “trouble” from which the psalmist asks deliverance.