Short answer
No. Psalm 22 is headed "A Psalm of David", and it is a prayer for rescue, not a prediction of a death. Its speaker is mocked and surrounded by enemies he calls bulls, lions and dogs. He begs God (﷾) to deliver him, and the psalm ends by saying God (﷾) heard him. The line Christians quote most, "they pierced my hands and my feet", reads "like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet" in the Jewish text. Scholars still argue over that word. The Gospels quote this psalm for the cry and for the garments, but never for that line. Read as a whole, the psalm tells of a righteous man whom God (﷾) saved from his enemies. That is what the Qur'an says of Jesus: they did not kill him or crucify him, and God (﷾) raised him up.
Full explanation
What the psalm says in its own words
The psalm is headed "A Psalm of David". It opens with a cry: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The speaker is mocked. "All they that see me laugh me to scorn", and they say, "He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him".
His enemies are drawn as wild beasts. "Many bulls have compassed me", they gape "as a ravening and a roaring lion", and "dogs have compassed me". They share out his clothes and cast lots for them. Then he prays: "Deliver my soul from the sword", "Save me from the lion's mouth". And the psalm says his prayer was answered: "when he cried unto him, he heard".
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”
“All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.”
“Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.”
“They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”
“But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.”
“For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.”
A cry
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Mocked
"let him deliver him"
Surrounded
bulls, lions and dogs
A prayer
"Deliver my soul from the sword"
Heard
"when he cried unto him, he heard"
How Christians read it
Christians read Psalm 22 as a prophecy of the cross. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus cries its first line on the cross. Matthew has passers-by wag their heads and say, "He trusted in God; let him deliver him now", words close to the psalm. Matthew and John say the soldiers parted his garments and cast lots, "that the scripture might be fulfilled". And many Christians read "they pierced my hands and my feet" as the nails of the crucifixion.
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
“And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.”
“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.”
“They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.”
“For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.”
Why do the Gospels have Jesus ask God why He has forsaken him?
"They pierced" or "like a lion"?
The King James Version has "they pierced my hands and my feet" (22:16). The Jewish translation of the Hebrew reads: "like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet" (22:17 in Jewish numbering). The Hebrew word is ka'ari, "like a lion". The same word appears in Hezekiah's prayer in Isaiah: "as a lion, so will he break all my bones". The Jewish commentator Rashi explains the psalm by that verse: it is as if they were crushed in a lion's mouth.
The old Greek translation has a different word, which means "they dug". A fragment of Psalms found near the Dead Sea spells the Hebrew word slightly differently. Some scholars read it as a verb. Others judge it a spelling slip. Articles in a leading journal of biblical studies were still arguing over the word in 1997, 2000 and 2004. A verse whose wording is still in dispute cannot be a clear proof of anything.
“For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.”
“For dogs have encompassed me; a company of evil-doers have inclosed me; like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet.”
“I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.”
On "like a lion, my hands and my feet", Rashi explains: as though they are crushed in a lion's mouth. He compares Hezekiah's words in Isaiah 38:13, "like a lion, so it would break all my bones".
A study of the disputed words of Psalm 22:17b (KJV 22:16). The Masoretic Hebrew reads ka'ari, "like a lion"; the Greek Septuagint has oryxan, "they dug"; scholars have long guessed at the original. Vall weighs the old readings, including a verb.
A fragment of Psalms from the first century CE, found near the Dead Sea, spells the word with a final waw (k'rw) instead of yod (k'ry). Some read it as a verb; others judge it a spelling variant. It does not settle the meaning.
Replies to Vall and defends the Masoretic reading "like a lion", which stands in nearly every Hebrew manuscript and fits the psalm's many animal images.
Takes up the problem again, keeping the Hebrew consonants but dividing the verse differently. It shows that the verse's meaning is still disputed among scholars.
| Text | The words |
|---|---|
| King James Version, 22:16 | "they pierced my hands and my feet" |
| Jewish text (JPS 1917), 22:17 | "like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet" |
| Old Greek translation | "they dug my hands and my feet" |
The one line the Gospels never quote
The Gospel writers knew this psalm well. They quote its first line as the cry from the cross. They echo the mockers' words. Matthew and John quote the garments and the lots, and say this happened "that the scripture might be fulfilled". Yet no Gospel, and no other book of the New Testament, quotes the line about hands and feet. The verse that Christians now treat as the clearest prophecy of the nails was not used by the men who wrote the accounts of the cross.
“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
“And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.”
“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.”
“They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.”
“For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.”
| Psalm 22 | In the Gospels |
|---|---|
| Verse 1, the cry | Quoted: Matthew 27:46 |
| Verses 7-8, the mocking | Echoed: Matthew 27:39-43 |
| Verse 18, the garments | Quoted as fulfilled: John 19:24 |
| Verse 16, hands and feet | Never quoted |
A prayer that was answered
Read to the end, the psalm is not about a man who dies. It is about a man who asks God (﷾) to save him, and is saved. He prays: "Deliver my soul from the sword" and "Save me from the lion's mouth". Then he says that God (﷾) "hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard". The psalm ends in praise among his brethren.
The New Testament itself says this of Jesus' own prayer. The Letter to the Hebrews says he prayed "unto him that was able to save him from death", and "was heard".
“But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.”
“For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.”
“Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;”
What the Qur'an says happened
The Qur'an says Jesus' enemies boasted that they had killed him. "But they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them" (4:157). "Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself" (4:158). God (﷾) also tells Jesus: "I did restrain the Children of Israel from (violence to) thee" (5:110).
So if a Christian reads Psalm 22 of Jesus, it does not lead to the cross. It tells of a righteous man surrounded by enemies, who called on God (﷾) and was heard and rescued. That is the Qur'an's account of Jesus. He was not left in his enemies' hands: God (﷾) saved him before they could harm him.
“That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-”
“Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise;-”
“Then will Allah say: "O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My favour to thee and to thy mother. Behold! I strengthened thee with the holy spirit, so that thou didst speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. Behold! I taught thee the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel and behold! thou makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave, and thou breathest into it and it becometh a bird by My leave, and thou healest those born blind, and the lepers, by My leave. And behold! thou bringest forth the dead by My leave. And behold! I did restrain the Children of Israel from (violence to) thee when thou didst show them the clear Signs, and the unbelievers among them said: 'This is nothing but evident magic.'”
Perspectives
Mainstream Christian
Christians read Psalm 22 as a prophecy of the crucifixion. They point to the cry of the first line, the mocking, the dividing of the garments, and "they pierced my hands and my feet".
"They pierced my hands and my feet" foretells the nails of the crucifixion.
Rebuttal
The Hebrew reads "like a lion", the word Hezekiah uses in Isaiah 38:13. The Greek has "they dug", and scholars still dispute the word. No New Testament writer quotes this line as fulfilled.
The Gospels say the garments were divided "that the scripture might be fulfilled".
Rebuttal
In the psalm, the man whose garments are shared out goes on to pray to be delivered, and says God (﷾) heard him. The psalm ends in rescue, not in death.
Jewish
Jewish readers take Psalm 22 as David's prayer in distress. The Hebrew of verse 17 reads "like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet", as Rashi explains from Isaiah 38:13.
The Hebrew of 22:17 reads "like a lion", one of the psalm's many animal images.
The Islamic perspective
Psalm 22 is a prayer for rescue that was answered. It does not foretell a death on a cross. Jesus was neither killed nor crucified, and God (﷾) raised him up.
The psalm's speaker prays to be delivered and says God (﷾) heard him.
The line read as the nails is disputed in the Hebrew and is never quoted in the New Testament.
The Qur'an says Jesus was neither killed nor crucified, and God (﷾) raised him up.