Psalms 22:16

Psalms 22:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
• New International Version (NIV)Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.
• English Standard Version (ESV)For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—
• New King James Version (NKJV)For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet;

Context of Psalms 22:16

14My strength drains away like water; all my bones are dislocated; my heart is like wax; it melts away inside me. 15The roof of my mouth is as dry as a piece of pottery; my tongue sticks to my gums. You set me in the dust of death. Yes, wild dogs surround me – a gang of evil men crowd around me; like a lion they pin my hands and feet. 17I can count all my bones; my enemies are gloating over me in triumph. 18They are dividing up my clothes among themselves; they are rolling dice for my garments.

Psalms 22:16 word by word

כִּ֥י סְבָב֗וּנִי כְּלָ֫בִ֥ים עֲדַ֣ת מְ֭רֵעִים הִקִּיפ֑וּנִי כָּ֝אֲרִ֗י יָדַ֥י וְרַגְלָֽי׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• For dogsכֶּ֫לֶבkeleb · dogH3611
• have compassedסָבַבsâbab · to turn: surroundH5437
• me: the assemblyעֵדָה‛êdâh · congregationH5712
• of the wickedרָעַעrâ‛a‛ · be evilH7489
• have inclosedנָקַףnâqaph · to surroundH5362
• me: they piercedאַרְיֵה'ărîy 'aryêh · lionH738
• me: they piercedכוּרkârâh · to digH3738
• my handsיָדyâd · handH3027
• and my feetרֶ֫גֶלregel · footH7272

Cross-references for Psalms 22:16

• Psalms 22:1My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? I groan in prayer, but help seems far away.
• Psalms 59:6They return in the evening; they growl like a dog and prowl around outside the city.
• Matthew 7:6Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces.
• Philippians 3:2Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh!
• Revelation 22:15Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood!
• Luke 11:53When he went out from there, the experts in the law and the Pharisees began to oppose him bitterly, and to ask him hostile questions about many things,
• Psalms 86:14O God, arrogant men attack me; a gang of ruthless men, who do not respect you, seek my life.
• Jeremiah 12:6As a matter of fact, even your own brothers and the members of your own family have betrayed you too. Even they have plotted to do away with you. So do not trust them even when they say kind things to you.
• Matthew 26:57Now the ones who had arrested Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, in whose house the experts in the law and the elders had gathered.
• Mark 15:16So the soldiers led him into the palace (that is, the governor’s residence) and called together the whole cohort.
• Luke 22:63Now the men who were holding Jesus under guard began to mock him and beat him.
• Luke 23:4Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation against this man.”
• Zechariah 12:10“I will pour out on the kingship of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn.
• Matthew 27:35When they had crucified him, they divided his clothes by throwing dice.
• Mark 15:24Then they crucified him and divided his clothes, throwing dice for them, to decide what each would take.
• Luke 23:33So when they came to the place that is called “The Skull,” they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

Commentaries on Psalms 22:16

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16For dogs have compassed me - This may refer to the Gentiles, the Roman soldiers, and others by whom our Lord was surrounded in his trial, and at his cross. They pierced my hands and my feet - The other sufferings David, as a type of our Lord, might pass through; but the piercing of the hands and feet was peculiar to our Lord; therefore, this verse may pass for a direct revelavion. Our Lord's hands and feet were pierced when he was nailed to the cross…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16For dogs have compassed me - Men who resemble dogs; harsh, snarling, fierce, ferocious. See Philemon 3:2, note; and Revelation 22:15, note. No one can doubt that this is applicable to the Redeemer. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me - That is, they have surrounded me; they have come around me on all sides so that I might not escape. So they surrounded the Redeemer in the garden of Gethsemane when they arrested him and bound him; so they…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 11-21Verses 11-21 In these verses we have Christ suffering, and Christ praying; by which we are directed to look for crosses, and to look up to God under them. The very manner of Christ's death is described, though not in use among the Jews. They pierced his hands and his feet, which were nailed to the accursed tree, and his whole body was left so to hang as to suffer the most severe pain and torture. His natural force failed, being wasted by the fire of…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16The wild pack of dogs represents aggressive and dishonest people.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. Evildoers are well described as dogs, which, in the East, herding together, wild and rapacious, are justly objects of great abhorrence. The last clause has been a subject of much discussion (involving questions as to the genuineness of the Hebrew word translated "pierce)" which cannot be made intelligible to the English reader. Though not quoted in the New Testament, the remarkable aptness of the description to the facts of the Saviour's history…Read the comment

Topics related to Psalms 22:16

• Afflictions and Adversities
• Jesus, the Christ
• Persecution

In the dictionaries

• Aijeleth Shahar
• Beast
• Dog
• Hind
• Poetry
• Shoot
• Silent
• Worm
• Accommodation
• Assembly

Commentaries on Psalms 22

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• The Treasury of David
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings