Psalm 22 Exegetical Issues

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Psalm 22/Exegetical Issues
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Exegetical Issues Video

Introduction to Exegetical Issues

Presented here are the top three Exegetical Issues that any interpreter of the psalm—whether they’re reading the text in Hebrew or looking at a number of translations—are likely to encounter. These issues usually involve textual criticism, grammar, lexical semantics, verbal semantics, and/or phrase-level semantics, though they sometimes involve higher-level layers as well.

Exegetical Issues for Psalm 22

When we reach the first word of v. 9, the psalmist is quoting the mockers' direct speech, as indicated by the addition of "They say" in the NET and the quotation marks offered in the ESV (see just below). The first verb (with the consonants גל), however, has been understood as either an imperative or an indicative
The text of the third line of Psalm 22:17 has caused interpreters problems throughout the centuries and the number of proposed solutions runs well into double figures—some more creative than others. We will limit our discussion to the most plausible solutions as reflected in both ancient and modern translations: "like a lion" and "they have pierced."


There are three textual issues affecting the interpretation of the third line:
  1. Whether to read נַפְשִׁי "my life" or נַפְשׁוֹ "his life"
  2. Whether to read לוֹ "for him" or לֹא "not"
  3. Whether to read qal חָיָה "live" or piel חִיָּה "keep alive"