For dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.

They pierced my hands and my feet.

Psalm 22 verse 16.

Hello listeners, this is Nick from Book of Mormon Central.

And today's podcast addresses the question,

Does Psalm 22 really say they pierced my hands and my feet?

Christians have often read and appreciated Psalm 22, interpreting many of its words to be prophetic foreshadowings of the Savior's crucifixion and atonement.

Jesus himself quoted the opening

line in the Psalm as he hung on the cross, and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud

voice saying, Eli, Eli, Lama Shabakhthani. This is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

These words effectively invited those who heard him to remember

all the powerful lines in this messianic Psalm. An especially pointed parallel to Christ's crucifixion

comes in Psalm 22, verse 16, which says, They pierced my hands and my feet. The King James Version

and other English translations of the Bible found

this phrase in the traditional Latin Vulgate and the Septuagint, an early Greek translation of the Old

Testament. In contrast, the standard mesoretic Hebrew version reads, like a lion are my hands and my feet.

Hence the Jewish Publication Society's 1985 translation of this psalm reads, Like a Lion are My Hands and My Feet. Hence the Jewish Publication Society's 1985 translation of this Psalm reads,

Like a Lion, they maul my hands and feet.

Many modern translations provide similar renderings.

This variation in reading stems from one minor difference in a single letter in the Hebrew text,

creating a mix-up between the two letters

Vav and Vod, most easily confused in Hebrew. This has led to a wide variety of different

...