Psalms 22 · Verse 16

Psalms 22:16

For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
Psalms 22:16, King James Version

Psalms 22:16 in other translations

BSBFor dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet.
WEBFor dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They have pierced my hands and feet.
ASVFor dogs have compassed me: A company of evil-doers have inclosed me; They pierced my hands and my feet.
YLTAnd to the dust of death thou appointest me, For surrounded me have dogs, A company of evil doers have compassed me, Piercing my hands and my feet.
DARBYFor dogs have encompassed me; an assembly of evil-doers have surrounded me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
BBEDogs have come round me: I am shut in by the band of evil-doers; they made wounds in my hands and feet.
WebsterFor dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

What does Psalms 22:16 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
16. 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, together with difficulties attending any other mode of explaining the clause in the Hebrew, justify an adherence to the terms of our version and their obvious meaning.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 16 For 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, David's never were pierced. But there is a various reading here which is of great importance. Instead of כארו caaru, they pierced, which is what is called the kethib, or marginal reading, and which our translators have followed; the keri or textual reading is כארי caari, as a lion. In support of each reading there are both MSS. and eminent critics. The Chaldee has, "Biting as a lion my hands and my feet;" but the Syriac, Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic read, "they pierced or digged;" and in the Anglo-Saxon the words translate: "They dalve (digged) hands mine, and feet mine." The Complutensian Polyglot has כארו caaru, they digged or pierced, in the text; for which it gives כרה carah, to cut, dig, or penetrate, in the margin, as the root whence כארו is derived. But the Polyglots of Potken, Antwerp, Paris. and London, have כארי caari in the text; and כארו caaru is referred to in the margin; and this is the case with the most correct Hebrew Bibles. The whole difference here lies between י yod and ו vau. which might easily be mistaken for each other; the former making like a lion; the latter, they pierced. The latter is to me most evidently the true reading.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalms 22:11-21

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…

Read the full comment on Psalms 22:11-21 →

Psalms 22:16 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כִּ֥יkiforH3588
סְבָב֗וּנִיse.va.Vu.nithey have surrounded meH5437
כְּלָ֫בִ֥יםke.La.VimdogsH3611
עֲדַ֣ת'a.Data company ofH5712
מְ֭רֵעִיםMe.re.'imevil-doersH7489
הִקִּיפ֑וּנִיhi.ki.Fu.nithey have encircled meH5362
כָּ֝אֲרִ֗יka.'a.Rilike a lionH738
יָדַ֥יya.Daihands myH3027
וְרַגְלָֽי\׃ve.rag.Laiand feet myH7272

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 22:16

  • John 19:37

    And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.

  • Zechariah 12:10

    And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

  • Matthew 27:35

    And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.

  • John 20:25

    The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

  • John 19:23

    Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.

  • John 19:34

    But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

  • Mark 15:24

    And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.

  • John 20:27

    Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

  • Luke 23:33

    And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

  • Psalms 22:20

    Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

  • Philippians 3:2

    Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.

  • Mark 15:16-20

    And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Pretorium; and they call together the whole band. And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. …

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
dogs.
22:1; *title
20; 59:6,14; Mt 7:6; Php 3:2; Re 22:15
compassed.
Lu 11:53,54
assembly.
86:14; Jer 12:6; Mt 26:57; Mr 15:16-20; Lu 22:63-71; 23:4,5,10,11
Lu 23:23
they pierced.The textual reading is {kaäri,} "as a lion my hands and feet;" but several MSS., read {kâroo,} and others {karoo} in the margin, which affords the reading adopted by our translators. So the LXX. [oryxan cheiras mou kai podas,] so also the Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic; and as all the Evangelists so quote the passage, and apply it to the crucifixion of Christ, there seems scarcely the shadow of a doubt that this is the genuine reading; especially when it is considered, that the other contains no sense at all. The whole difference lies between [vâv] {wav} and [yôwd,] {yood,} which might easily be mistaken for each other.
Zec 12:10; Mt 27:35; Mr 15:24; Lu 23:33; Joh 19:23,37; 20:25,27

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Psalms 22:15

    My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

  • Psalms 22:16

    For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

  • Psalms 22:17

    I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

Read all of Psalms 22

Psalms 22:16 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Porque perros me han rodeado, hame cercado cuadrilla de malignos: horadaron mis manos y mis pies.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Ma vigueur est desséchée comme un têt, et ma langue est attachée à mon palais; et tu m’as mis dans la poussière de la mort.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Denn Hunde haben mich umgeben, eine Rotte von Übeltätern hat mich umzingelt. Sie haben meine Hände und meine Füße durchgraben;