Psalms 22:4-20

⁴Our fathers had faith in you: they had faith and you were their saviour.

⁵They sent up their cry to you and were made free: they put their faith in you and were not put to shame.

⁶But I am a worm and not a man; cursed by men, and looked down on by the people.

⁷I am laughed at by all those who see me: pushing out their lips and shaking their heads they say,

⁸He put his faith in the Lord; let the Lord be his saviour now: let the Lord be his saviour, because he had delight in him.

⁹But it was you who took care of me from the day of my birth: you gave me faith even from my mother's breasts.

¹⁰I was in your hands even before my birth; you are my God from the time when I was in my mother's body.

¹¹Be not far from me, for trouble is near; there is no one to give help.

¹²A great herd of oxen is round me: I am shut in by the strong oxen of Bashan.

¹³I saw their mouths wide open, like lions crying after food.

¹⁴I am flowing away like water, and all my bones are out of place: my heart is like wax, it has become soft in my body.

¹⁵My throat is dry like a broken vessel; my tongue is fixed to the roof of my mouth, and the dust of death is on my lips.

¹⁶Dogs have come round me: I am shut in by the band of evil-doers; they made wounds in my hands and feet.

¹⁷I am able to see all my bones; their looks are fixed on me:

¹⁸They make a division of my robes among them, by the decision of chance they take my clothing.

¹⁹Do not be far from me, O Lord: O my strength, come quickly to my help.

²⁰Make my soul safe from the sword, my life from the power of the dog.