The Jesus Archive
Michelangelo, David

Psalms: the songs read of the Messiah

Eight of Israel’s psalms that the New Testament reads as speaking of Jesus: royal songs of the king God enthrones, and laments of a righteous sufferer, including Psalm 22, whose opening words Jesus cried from the cross.

About this witness

The Psalms are the hymnbook and prayer book of ancient Israel: 150 songs of praise, lament and trust gathered over several centuries. Many carry headings naming David, the shepherd-king of c. 1000 BC; others name Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon or Moses. Jesus prayed them, and they remain at the heart of Jewish and Christian worship.

The New Testament quotes the Psalms more often than almost any other book. Royal psalms such as 2 and 110, first sung for the kings of David’s line, were read of the Messiah; laments such as 22 and 69, in which a righteous sufferer is mocked and surrounded, were heard as the voice of Jesus in his passion. Mark and Matthew record him crying the opening words of Psalm 22 on the cross.

Jewish readers take these psalms as the prayers of David and of Israel, and the royal psalms as songs for the historic kings of Judah; some, such as 2 and 110, were also read of the Messiah in later Jewish tradition. The first Christians, following Jesus’s own use of them (Luke 24:44), heard them fulfilled in him. The reader can weigh both.

The cry of the forsaken

14 I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have brought me into the dust of death.

16 For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They have pierced my hands and feet.

17 I can count all of my bones. They look and stare at me.

18 They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing.

Psalm 22:14–18
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At the right hand

1 A Psalm by David. Yahweh says to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool for your feet.”

2 Yahweh will send out the rod of your strength out of Zion. Rule among your enemies.

3 Your people offer themselves willingly in the day of your power, in holy array. Out of the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth.

4 Yahweh has sworn, and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

Psalm 110:1–4
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The text

Psalms 2, 16, 22, 34, 41, 69, 110 and 118 in the World English Bible, with verse numbers. Where a psalm has a heading, the WEB prints it with verse 1.

Psalm 2

1 Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?

2 The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,

3 “Let’s break their bonds apart, and cast their cords from us.”

4 He who sits in the heavens will laugh. The Lord will have them in derision.

5 Then he will speak to them in his anger, and terrify them in his wrath:

6 “Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”

7 I will tell of the decree: Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father.

8 Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.

9 You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

10 Now therefore be wise, you kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth.

11 Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12 Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.

Psalm 16

1 A Poem by David. Preserve me, God, for I take refuge in you.

2 My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord. Apart from you I have no good thing.”

3 As for the saints who are on the earth, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts to another god. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take their names on my lips.

5 Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure.

6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance.

7 I will bless Yahweh, who has given me counsel. Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.

8 I have set Yahweh always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices. My body shall also dwell in safety.

10 For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.

11 You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.

Psalm 22

1 For the Chief Musician; set to “The Doe of the Morning.” A Psalm by David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?

2 My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer; in the night season, and am not silent.

3 But you are holy, you who inhabit the praises of Israel.

4 Our fathers trusted in you. They trusted, and you delivered them.

5 They cried to you, and were delivered. They trusted in you, and were not disappointed.

6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.

7 All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,

8 “He trusts in Yahweh. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, since he delights in him.”

9 But you brought me out of the womb. You made me trust while at my mother’s breasts.

10 I was thrown on you from my mother’s womb. You are my God since my mother bore me.

11 Don’t be far from me, for trouble is near. For there is no one to help.

12 Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.

13 They open their mouths wide against me, lions tearing prey and roaring.

14 I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have brought me into the dust of death.

16 For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They have pierced my hands and feet.

17 I can count all of my bones. They look and stare at me.

18 They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing.

19 But don’t be far off, Yahweh. You are my help. Hurry to help me!

20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog.

21 Save me from the lion’s mouth! Yes, you have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen.

22 I will declare your name to my brothers. Among the assembly, I will praise you.

23 You who fear Yahweh, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him! Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel!

24 For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither has he hidden his face from him; but when he cried to him, he heard.

25 My praise of you comes in the great assembly. I will pay my vows before those who fear him.

26 The humble shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise Yahweh who seek after him. Let your hearts live forever.

27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Yahweh. All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you.

28 For the kingdom is Yahweh’s. He is the ruler over the nations.

29 All the rich ones of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him, even he who can’t keep his soul alive.

30 Posterity shall serve him. Future generations shall be told about the Lord.

31 They shall come and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born, for he has done it.

Psalm 34

1 By David; when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed. I will bless Yahweh at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth.

2 My soul shall boast in Yahweh. The humble shall hear of it and be glad.

3 Oh magnify Yahweh with me. Let’s exalt his name together.

4 I sought Yahweh, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

5 They looked to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame.

6 This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

7 Yahweh’s angel encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

8 Oh taste and see that Yahweh is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

9 Oh fear Yahweh, you his saints, for there is no lack with those who fear him.

10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing.

11 Come, you children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.

12 Who is someone who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?

13 Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking lies.

14 Depart from evil, and do good. Seek peace, and pursue it.

15 Yahweh’s eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry.

16 Yahweh’s face is against those who do evil, to cut off their memory from the earth.

17 The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.

18 Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.

20 He protects all of his bones. Not one of them is broken.

21 Evil shall kill the wicked. Those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.

22 Yahweh redeems the soul of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.

Psalm 41

1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.

2 Yahweh will preserve him, and keep him alive. He shall be blessed on the earth, and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies.

3 Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness.

4 I said, “Yahweh, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”

5 My enemies speak evil against me: “When will he die, and his name perish?”

6 If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it.

7 All who hate me whisper together against me. They imagine the worst for me.

8 “An evil disease”, they say, “has afflicted him. Now that he lies he shall rise up no more.”

9 Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.

10 But you, Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up, that I may repay them.

11 By this I know that you delight in me, because my enemy doesn’t triumph over me.

12 As for me, you uphold me in my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.

13 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting! Amen and amen.

Psalm 69

1 For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Lilies.” By David. Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck!

2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

3 I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail looking for my God.

4 Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn’t take away.

5 God, you know my foolishness. My sins aren’t hidden from you.

6 Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord Yahweh of Armies. Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.

7 Because for your sake, I have borne reproach. Shame has covered my face.

8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s children.

9 For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

10 When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach.

11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.

12 Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards.

13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.

14 Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.

15 Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up. Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.

16 Answer me, Yahweh, for your loving kindness is good. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.

17 Don’t hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily!

18 Draw near to my soul and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies.

19 You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you.

20 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.

21 They also gave me poison for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.

22 Let their table before them become a snare. May it become a retribution and a trap.

23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see. Let their backs be continually bent.

24 Pour out your indignation on them. Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.

25 Let their habitation be desolate. Let no one dwell in their tents.

26 For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.

27 Charge them with crime upon crime. Don’t let them come into your righteousness.

28 Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.

29 But I am in pain and distress. Let your salvation, God, protect me.

30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31 It will please Yahweh better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs.

32 The humble have seen it, and are glad. You who seek after God, let your heart live.

33 For Yahweh hears the needy, and doesn’t despise his captive people.

34 Let heaven and earth praise him; the seas, and everything that moves therein!

35 For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah. They shall settle there, and own it.

36 The children also of his servants shall inherit it. Those who love his name shall dwell therein.

Psalm 110

1 A Psalm by David. Yahweh says to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool for your feet.”

2 Yahweh will send out the rod of your strength out of Zion. Rule among your enemies.

3 Your people offer themselves willingly in the day of your power, in holy array. Out of the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth.

4 Yahweh has sworn, and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

5 The Lord is at your right hand. He will crush kings in the day of his wrath.

6 He will judge among the nations. He will heap up dead bodies. He will crush the ruler of the whole earth.

7 He will drink of the brook on the way; therefore he will lift up his head.

Psalm 118

1 Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.

2 Let Israel now say that his loving kindness endures forever.

3 Let the house of Aaron now say that his loving kindness endures forever.

4 Now let those who fear Yahweh say that his loving kindness endures forever.

5 Out of my distress, I called on Yah. Yah answered me with freedom.

6 Yahweh is on my side. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

7 Yahweh is on my side among those who help me. Therefore I will look in triumph at those who hate me.

8 It is better to take refuge in Yahweh, than to put confidence in man.

9 It is better to take refuge in Yahweh, than to put confidence in princes.

10 All the nations surrounded me, but in Yahweh’s name I cut them off.

11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me. In Yahweh’s name I indeed cut them off.

12 They surrounded me like bees. They are quenched like the burning thorns. In Yahweh’s name I cut them off.

13 You pushed me back hard, to make me fall, but Yahweh helped me.

14 Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation.

15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. “The right hand of Yahweh does valiantly.

16 The right hand of Yahweh is exalted! The right hand of Yahweh does valiantly!”

17 I will not die, but live, and declare Yah’s works.

18 Yah has punished me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will enter into them. I will give thanks to Yah.

20 This is the gate of Yahweh; the righteous will enter into it.

21 I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me, and have become my salvation.

22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

23 This is Yahweh’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.

24 This is the day that Yahweh has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!

25 Save us now, we beg you, Yahweh! Yahweh, we beg you, send prosperity now.

26 Blessed is he who comes in Yahweh’s name! We have blessed you out of Yahweh’s house.

27 Yahweh is God, and he has given us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar.

28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you. You are my God, I will exalt you.

29 Oh give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.

SourceWorld English Bible (WEB) — https://ebible.org/web/ LicencePublic domain

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