Psalms 22:17

17 they numbered all my bones. Soothly they looked (at), and beheld me; (and they counted up all my bones. Yea, they beheld me;)

Psalms 22:17 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 22:17

I may tell all my bones
For what with the stretching out of his body on the cross, when it was fastened to it as it lay on the ground, and with the jolt of the cross when, being reared up, it was fixed in the ground, and with the weight of the body hanging upon it, all his bones were disjointed and started out; so that, could he have seen them, he might have told them, as they might be told by the spectators who were around him; and so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions render it, "they have numbered all my bones"; that is, they might have done if: the Targum is, "I will number all the scars of my members", made by the blows, scourges, and wounds he received;

they look [and] stare upon me;
meaning not his bones, but his enemies; which may be understood either by way of contempt, as many Jewish interpreters explain it: so the Scribes and elders of the people, and the people themselves, looked and stared at him on the cross, and mocked at him, and insulted him; or by way of rejoicing, saying, "Aha, aha, our eye hath seen", namely, what they desired and wished for, ( Psalms 35:21 ) ; a sight as was enough to have moved an heart of stone made no impression on them; they had no sympathy with him, no compassion on him, but rejoiced at his misery: this staring agrees with their character as dogs.

Psalms 22:17 In-Context

15 My virtue dried as a tilestone, and my tongue cleaved to my cheeks; and thou hast brought forth me into the dust of death. (My strength dried up like a tilestone, and my tongue cleaved to my cheeks; and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death.)
16 For many dogs (en)compassed me; the council of wicked men besieged me. They delved mine hands and my feet; (For many dogs surrounded me; yea, a band of wicked men besieged me. They pierced my hands and my feet;)
17 they numbered all my bones. Soothly they looked (at), and beheld me; (and they counted up all my bones. Yea, they beheld me;)
18 they parted my clothes to themselves, and they sent lot on my cloth. (then they parted my clothes among themselves, and they cast lots for my cloak.)
19 But thou, Lord, delay not thine help from me; behold thou to my defence. (But thou, Lord, do not delay thy help for me; hasten thou to my defence.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.