Psalm 22:1-11
A Women’s Lectionary – Palm Sunday
To the leader:I according to The DeerII of the Dawn.III A PsalmIV of David.V
1 My God,VI my God, why have you forsakenVII me?
Why are you so farVIII from helpingIX me, from the wordsX of my groaning?XI
2 O my God,XII I cryXIII by day,XIV but you do not answer;
and by night,XV but find no rest.XVI
3 Yet you are holy,XVII
enthronedXVIII on the praisesXIX of Israel.XX
4 In you our ancestorsXXI trusted;XXII
they trusted, and you deliveredXXIII them.
5 To you they cried,XXIV and were saved;XXV
in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.XXVI
6 But I am a worm,XXVII and not human;XXVIII
scornedXXIX by others,XXX and despisedXXXI by the people.XXXII
7 All who see me mockXXXIII at me;
they makeXXXIV mouthsXXXV at me, they shakeXXXVI their heads;XXXVII
8 “Commit your causeXXXVIII to the Lord;XXXIX let him deliverXL—
let him rescueXLI the one in whom he delights!”XLII
9 Yet it was you who tookXLIII me from the womb;XLIV
you kept me safeXLV on my mother’sXLVI breast.XLVII
10 On you I was castXLVIII from my birth,XLIX
and since my mother boreL me you have been my God.LI
11 Do not be farLII from me,
for troubleLIII is nearLIV
and there is no one to help.LV
Image Credit: Nursing home of Joachim and Anna in the Netherlands: Interior chapel, right wall, stained glass: “Psalm 22”, by visual artist Ted Felen, 1982