Psalms 22:8-9

22:8 They say,¹

“Commit yourself² to the Lord!

Let the Lord³ rescue him!

Let the Lord⁴ deliver him, for he delights in him.”⁵

22:9 Yes, you are the one who brought me out⁶ from the womb

and made me feel secure on my mother’s breasts.

¹tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons. The psalmist here quotes the sarcastic taunts of his enemies.

²tn Heb “roll [yourself].” The Hebrew verb גלל here has the sense of “commit” (see Prov 16:3). The imperatival form in the Hebrew text indicates the enemies here address the psalmist. Since they refer to him in the third person in the rest of the verse, some prefer to emend the verb to a perfect, “he commits himself to the Lord.”

³tn Heb “Let him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴tn Heb “Let him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵tn That is, “for he [the Lord] delights in him [the psalmist].” For other cases where the expression “delight in” refers to God’s delight in a person, see Num 14:8; 1 Kgs 10:9; Pss 18:19; 40:8.

sn This statement does not necessarily reflect the enemies’ actual belief, but it does reflect the psalmist’s confession. The psalmist’s enemies sarcastically appeal to God to help him, because he claims to be an object of divine favor. However, they probably doubted the reality of his claim.

⁶tn Or “the one who pulled me.” The verb is derived from either גָחָה (gakhah; see HALOT 187 s.v. גחה) or גִּיחַ (giyakh; see BDB 161 s.v. גִּיחַ) and seems to carry the nuance “burst forth” or “pull out.”