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.
• 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;
• New Living Translation (NLT)My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet.

Context of Psalms 22:16

14I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. 15My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death. Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. 17All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. 18They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.

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 forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?
• Psalms 59:6They return at evening, snarling like dogs, and prowl about the city.
• Matthew 7:6“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
• Philippians 3:2Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.
• Revelation 22:15Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
• Luke 11:53When Jesus went outside, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions,
• Psalms 86:14Arrogant foes are attacking me, O God; ruthless people are trying to kill me— they have no regard for you.
• Jeremiah 12:6Your relatives, members of your own family— even they have betrayed you; they have raised a loud cry against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you.
• Matthew 26:57Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled.
• Mark 15:16The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers.
• Luke 22:63The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him.
• Luke 23:4Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
• Zechariah 12:10“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
• Matthew 27:35When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
• Mark 15:24And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.
• Luke 23:33When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other 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