Explanations and Interpretations
Rashi follows the Masoretic Text and paraphrases the phrase as "like lions (they maul) my hands and my feet." Rashi bases his translation of Psalm 22:16/17 on the other uses of the phrase (כָּ אֲרִ י) K'ari, throughout biblical text. Rashi specifically cites Isaiah 38:13.The rendering by many English sources is a contentious point given that when the same Hebrew phrase used in Psalm 22:16/17 ירִאֲכָּ (K’Ari) is used elsewhere, translators uniformly render the word as “Lion”, as is the case with Isaiah 38:13 as shown in the translations below:
| Translation | Text |
|---|---|
| Wycliffe | " I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion he broke all my bones" |
| Coverdale | " I thought I wolde haue lyued vnto the morow, but he brussed my bones like a lyon " |
| KJV | " I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones" |
| NIV | " I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion he broke all my bones;" |
| ESV | " I calmed myself until morning; like a lion he breaks all my bones " |
| JPS | " The more I make myself like unto a lion until morning, the more it breaketh all my bones " |
The Masoretic Text reading presents the word ארי . An additional form of the word for lion ( אריה ) Arie, (without the prefix that denotes, like or as; as in K'ari) occurs twice in Psalm 22, in verses 13/14 and 21/22. This translation in English is no fixed, providing the various rendering we see in English translations.
Gregory Vall noted that is possible that the LXX translators were faced with כארו; i.e. as in the Masoretic text, but ending with the longer letter vav (ו), rather than the shorter yod (י). This word is not otherwise known in Biblical Hebrew, but could be an alternative spelling derived from the root כרה, "to dig". Vall proceeds to note nineteen conjectural emendations, while Brent Strawn appeals to iconographical data in support of the MT reading. A Psalms scroll was uncovered at Qumran, but is damaged at this point. However the editors of a psalms fragment from Nahal Hever do find in that text the word in question written as כארו, as Vall had previously speculated, and hence they support the reading "they dug at my hands and my feet".
While it is true that an interpretation of "they have pierced" was preferable to many Christian commentators on account of its christological implications, there is no evidence that either the Jews or the Christians tampered with the text. The phrase is not quoted anywhere in the New Testament, despite the Septuagint reading being of a form that might be thought to prefigure the piercing of Jesus' hands and feet. So the phrase remains an unresolved translation dispute.
Read more about this topic: They Have Pierced My Hands And My Feet
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