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22 [1] **To the chief musician on ayelet hashaĥar,**** a psalm by David. **
[2] **My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? **This verse describes how the psalmist feels: Alone, pursued by adversaries, and abandoned by God. **So far from my deliverance are the words of my anguished cry. **In this context, “my deliverance” may refer to God. The psalmist feels that his cries are so distant from God that it seems as if they cannot reach Him.
[3] **My God, I call You by day, but You do not answer; by night I have no solace. **I pray day and night, but my soul is not at peace.
[4] **Yet You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel. **God is portrayed by the psalmist as sitting on a throne made of songs of praise sung to Him by generations of the people of Israel.
[5] **In You our fathers placed their trust; they trusted, and You rescued them*****.*** You delivered them from their sufferings.
[6] **They cried out to You and escaped **from their precarious situations,** trusted in You and were not disappointed. **
[7] **But I am a worm and not a man **in the eyes of my detractors,** an object of disgrace, scorned by the masses. **
[8] **All who see me revile me, rejecting me with curled lip and wagging head. **Their insults are not even fully articulated; they consist of half-phrases accompanied by contemptuous snarls and head-shaking gesticulations, whether of contempt or pity.
[9] **Let him turn toward the Lord; let Him rescue him; let Him save him, for He delights in him. **These are the words of the psalmist, voicing his inner feelings toward others.
[10] **For You brought me forth from the womb; You made me secure at my mother’s breast. **
[11] **I have been cast upon You **to be dependent upon You **from the womb; from my mother’s belly, You have been my God. **From earliest childhood, I have relied on You.
[12] **Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one **else** to help. **
[13] **I am surrounded by **enemies that are like **many bulls, **large and dangerous animals, **encircled by the mighty bulls of Bashan,**** **an** **unusually large kind of cattle.
[14] **They open their mouths at me like a rapacious, roaring lion. **
[15] **I am spilled out like water. **I feel depleted and vulnerable. **All my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax, melting within me.** I have no inner strength to draw on.
[16] **My vitality is parched like clay; my tongue cleaves to my palate. You have consigned me to the dust of death. **I feel barely alive; You have brought me to the brink of death.
[17] **For dogs have surrounded me.**** **The psalmist compares his enemies to hungry dogs. **A band of evildoers have encircled me, like a lion at my hands and feet. **I am surrounded by hordes of terrifying, evil foes. I am devastated and broken.
[18] **I count all my bones, **because I feel that they are shattered. **They gaze and look at me.** My enemies are on the alert, waiting for my final downfall.
[19] Even while I am still alive, **they divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing,** to decide who will get each garment.
[20] **But You, Lord, be not far off. My Strength, hasten to help me. **
[21] **Rescue me from the sword, my soul from the grasp of the dog **that stands ready to attack me. The word *yeĥidati*, which means something singular and unique, is used here as a synonym for “my soul.”
[22] **Save me from the lion’s mouth, from the horns of the oryx;**** answer me, **rescue me from these vicious animals.
[23] The concluding verses of the psalm may have been composed at a later date, after the psalmist had been rescued from danger:** I will tell of Your name to my brothers; in the midst of the assembly I will praise You. **I will tell my kinsmen that You have rescued me from danger.
[24] **You who fear the Lord, praise Him; may the progeny of Jacob honor Him, and may the progeny of Israel fear Him. **
[25] **For **I, by my very survival, am testimony to the fact that **He did not despise or abhor the plea of the poor person, nor did He hide His face from him; when he cried to Him, He heard**.
[26] **My praise will be of You in the great assembly. **I will praise You now in public, and **I will fulfill, **also in public, **my vows **that I made in my time of distress, **in the presence of those who fear Him. **
[27] **The humble will eat and be satiated. Those who seek Him will praise the Lord; may your hearts be forever alive **due to your hope for God and His salvation.
[28] **The ends of the earth will all remember and return to the Lord; all families of nations will bow down before You. **
[29] **For kingship belongs to the Lord; He rules over nations. **
[30] **The well-fed of the earth have all eaten and bowed down before Him; all who return to the dust, **that is, all men,** kneel before Him. Is there a soul to whom He has not given life? **Everyone alive is sustained by God. Every living, mortal soul, from privileged, prosperous people to those who are impoverished, should bow down before God in gratitude.
[31] **Posterity will serve Him; coming generations will be told of the Lord. **
[32] **They will come and declare His righteousness to a nation yet to be born, **to future generations, **for so He has done. **He has granted salvation to men in their times of distress.
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center