Psalm 22:19-24 (ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION)

19 But you, O LORD, do not be far off!
O you my help, come quickly to my aid!

20 Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!

21 Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

22 I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

24 For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him.

PSALM 22: 20-25 (MT)

“Stay Here By My Side!”

My rendering follows the Masoretic Text, where the verse numbers differ from the ESV translation above.

Throughout Psalm 22, the mood alternates between terrible despair and ecstatic hope. Now, the hope prevails, and almost erases the deathly fear of the preceding verses. The psalmist focuses here on the redemptive presence of YHWH (translated as “LORD” in most English versions). This “Ever-Becoming” (YHWH is a verbal, not a nominal form) is mysterious and vital, and has already been described in the psalm in terms of birth-giving and mothering tenderness (vss. 10-12 MT). Here, YHWH is an agent of redemption and protection, and is bonded with a living community of “brothers and sisters,” whom the psalmist now addresses. This community – called “Jacob” and “Israel” – may transcend their history of trauma (ever striving/surpassing), and grow into compassion.

20 You, O Ever-Becoming, still stay here by my side!
I feel your guardian branches arching over me.

21 In my parched soul’s wasteland, give me shade -
and in my desert solitude, oh hand me back my heart!

22 Snatch me from the lion’s gaping jaws,
and be the simple answer to the riddle of my Minotaur.

23 And you, brothers and sisters mine, my story is now yours;
so let the Name of Thou become our radiant call.

24 Terrible in Beauty is our Becoming thus,
surpassing our sowing and all our heavy striving,
and rooting deeper than the seeds of strife within.

25 For no soul can live alone without some tenderness,
and a cry from our darkest depths cannot be silenced long.
We can never now pretend that we don’t see that loneliness,
never act as if we’re deaf to that cry of deep despair.

NOTES TO THE RENDERING OF PSALM 22:20-25 (MT)

Vs. 20: “I feel your guardian branches…” – The Hebrew word ‘eyaluti is a hapax legomenon – that is, it appears only once in the entire Bible. Most translators assume it means “my help.” The root ‘yl indicates might, leadership, and also a prominent, lofty tree known as a terebinth. My rendering uses the image of the lofty tree (“my terebinth”) as a protective metaphor. For the verb, I read husha as “feel” rather than “hasten.”

Vs. 21: “…wasteland…” – The root hrv can of course mean “sword” – but I think the primary meaning of “desolation” is far more likely here.

“… in my desert solitude...” – The word yehidati – often translated “my life” - actually means “my only one” or “myself alone.” The sense of loneliness is clear in Ps. 68:7 (MT) where the “lonely” (yehidim) are brought home. See also Ps. 25:16.

“…oh hand me back my heart.” - The literal phrase “from the hand of the dog” (miyad celev) just makes no sense (and thus translators try “power of the dog”). The same words can also mean “from hand as heart” – which I take to be a prayer for restoring the heart.

Vs. 22: “…the simple answer to the riddle of my Minotaur.” – Although the threat here has a different name (re’emim instead of ‘abirim), clearly the beast that stalks with the lion is the mythic “bull” from verses 13-14. What Ever-Becoming gives is not simply external salvation, but an inner answer to an old soul-riddle (a dilemma fittingly symbolized by horns). The Septuagint reads ‘anitani - “my answer” - as “my lowliness” (ten tapeinosin mou). This is because the Hebrew “poor/lowly/afflicted” and “answer/respond” have the same root (‘nh). The wisest response to death’s haunting dilemma is in fact “poverty of spirit.” So, I keep both meanings in my rendering: “simple (i.e. poor) answer.”

Vs. 23: “…my story is now yours…” – The Hebrew ‘asapra has the connotation of a sacred and formative act of story-telling. The psalmist now has a community of “siblings” more intimate than the traditional judgmental “clan” of Psalm 22’s opening verses.

“…The Name of Thou...” – The Hebrew possessive suffix (as in shimkha – ‘your name’) always implies the “I-Thou” relationship (cf. Martin Buber); here I make that intimate dialogue explicit. “Thou” here is not a grammatical anachronism but a relational imperative.

Vs. 24: “Terrible in Beauty is our Becoming thus…” – The Hebrew yir’a embodies Rudolph Otto’s mysterium tremendum et fascinans. The marrying of terror and attraction in yir’a deserves a better rendering than “fear of the LORD.” Job 37:22-38:1 is one of many contextual examples: ‘eloha is both “Power” (‘el) and “Becoming” (yah/YHWH); shaddai is “Divine Yearning/Nourishing.” The translation “terrible majesty” is dated, and in our context, “terrible in beauty” is better. Clearly, the community here includes the psalmist – hence “our Becoming.”

“Becoming thus…” means becoming Thou to each other – a sacred condition of soul.

“Surpassing our sowing…” – The striving to surpass, embodied in the names Ya’akov (Jacob) / Yisra’el (Israel), is evident in Hosea 12:4 (MT): “In the womb, he surpassed (‘akav) his brother, and in his strength he wrestled (sar) with ‘God’ (‘elohim).”

Vs. 25: “For no soul can live alone…” – My rendering of this verse takes poetic license with the Hebrew, as ancient concepts meet modern emotional intelligence. For lo’-bazah (“not despising”) I turn to Isaiah 49:7, where the phrase livzoh nefesh (“careless of soul”) is clearly a description of (collective) depression. The next phrase – lo’ shiketz ‘enut ani – expresses detestation. So, “not detesting the affliction of the afflicted” makes sense. However, the word ‘enut is a hapax legomenon and problematic. Scholars for centuries have seen haplography here, proposing a reading of “not despising the cry (tza’akat) of the afflicted.”

My approach to verse 25 is to read both “soul without care” and “crying affliction” as anachronistic terms for symptoms of serious depression. My rendering strives to preserve the purity of the Hebrew while reaching toward a contemporary sensitivity to psychic trauma.

“We can never now pretend…” – The versions reflect uncertainty in reading the Hebrew histir panim/panav mimeni/mimeno. Is it “hide his face from me” or “hide my face from him”? In modern Hebrew, to “set one’s face” is to pretend. My rendering puts focus on a moral imperative: being part of a redeemed community entails never becoming apathetic to the trauma of the “other” – whoever that may be.

RENDERING FROM THE HEBREW AND NOTES