Saturday 30 March 2024

When Psalm 22:16 says "For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet" is this referring to the crucifixion of Jesus?

Christian theologians have drawn on the parallel and assumed that Psalm 22:16 must be a reference to the crucifixion of Jesus, but those words are not in the Masoretic Hebrew text of Psalm 22:16, which states:

For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me, like a lion, my hands and feet.

This was mistranslated in the Greek Septuagint, although there is no evidence that the mistranslation was intentional:

For many dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked doers has beset me round: they dug my hands and my feet.

Christian theologians say the word ‘dug’ can be understood as meaning ‘pierced’, giving a preferred English translation of

For many dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked doers has beset me round: they pierced my hands and my feet.

The Septuagint version does not really refer to the crucifixion of Jesus but is sufficiently close that the inference has been drawn.

 

 

 

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