About a thousand years before the cross — and centuries before crucifixion was even practiced as a method of execution — King David wrote a psalm describing, in piercing detail, a death that reads exactly like a crucifixion. Jesus quoted its opening line from the cross. Here is the text, the fulfillment, and the famous textual question.
The text (Psalm 22:1, 16–18)
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?… For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”
What David foresaw
- The sufferer's cry of abandonment — “why hast thou forsaken me?” (22:1)
- Mocked by onlookers who “shoot out the lip” and wag their heads (22:7–8)
- Bones out of joint; heart melted; strength dried up; consumed with thirst (22:14–15)
- Hands and feet pierced (22:16)
- Able to count his bones, stared at by his enemies (22:17)
- Garments parted; lots cast for his clothing (22:18)
Fulfilled at the cross
| Psalm 22 foretold | Fulfilled in Jesus |
|---|---|
| “Why hast thou forsaken me?” (22:1) | Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34 |
| Mocked, heads wagging (22:7–8) | Matthew 27:39–43 |
| Thirst (22:15) | John 19:28 |
| Pierced hands and feet (22:16) | John 20:25; Luke 24:39 |
| Garments parted, lots cast (22:18) | John 19:23–24; Matthew 27:35 |
The textual question on “pierced”
Verse 16 is much discussed. The traditional Masoretic Hebrew reads “like a lion” (ka'ari) my hands and feet, while the pre-Christian Septuagint (Greek) and a witness among the Dead Sea Scrolls support a verb meaning “they pierced” (ka'aru). The earliest witnesses, then, support the “pierced” reading — and the surrounding details (parted garments, counted bones, pierced extremities) describe crucifixion regardless of how that one word is rendered.
How we weigh such questions — the same way on every verse: by the earliest and best witnesses, verse by verse, never by preferring one text-form wholesale. Here the pre-Christian Greek and the oldest Hebrew copy of the verse agree on “pierced” against the later Masoretic reading. The witnesses do not always lean the same way: in Zechariah 12:10 it is the Hebrew that reads “they pierced” (daqaru) — the reading John quotes at the crucifixion (John 19:37) — while the old Greek there reads “they have mocked” (Brenton’s Septuagint). Each verse is weighed on its own witnesses, in both directions, and we show the working either way.
Why it matters
A crucifixion described a thousand years before it happened — by a writer who never saw one — is hard to explain as coincidence. The sufferer of Psalm 22 is, the Gospels say, the Lord Jesus, pierced for us. The response He asks is the gospel the apostles preached: repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:38).