Psalm 22:27 - Printer Friendly

ESV: All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.

NIV: All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,

NASB: All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations will worship before You.

CSB: All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will bow down before you,

NLT: The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to him. All the families of the nations will bow down before him.

KJV: All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.

NKJV: All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You.

The Old Testament sometimes looks far ahead, beyond the coming of Christ, beyond the years after, and even past the end times. The words here foretell an eventual worldwide conversion to the Lord. At that time God's promise to Abraham to bless all the families of the earth in him (Genesis 12:1–3) will be entirely and wholly fulfilled. Zechariah 12:10 declares: "I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn."

Zechariah 13:1 predicts: "On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness." Zechariah 13:9 foretells that the Lord will bring one third of the people of Israel through the fire—meaning the tribulation of the end times—and refine them. They will call on His name; God "will say, 'They are my people'; and they will say, 'The LORD is my God'" (Zechariah 13:9).

Zechariah 14:9 declares: "The LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one." Verse 16 pictures nations going to Jerusalem annually "to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths" (Zechariah 14:16).

Psalm 22:22–31 focuses on David's praise to God, whereas the earlier passage focused on his prayer to God. We read there that trouble took a heavy toll on David. Here we find David thanking the Lord for the triumph he gave David over his foes. We find a similar contrast in chapters 27 and 28 of Matthew. One records the awful death of Jesus, the other His amazing deliverance out of the grave.

This psalm may be divided into two parts. The first part, verses 1–21, contains an urgent prayer, in which the suppliant questions a holy God's distance from him in his time of suffering. It also contains a graphic description of the Messiah's suffering. Messiah's suffering included humiliation, the taunts of unbelievers, a distressful sense of loneliness, and intense physical pain. The second part of the psalm continues a prayer to be delivered, and includes a glimpse of resurrection and exaltation. The psalm praises God and announces a future time when God will receive worldwide acclaim and worship.

This psalm of David should be understood in association with Psalms 23 and 24. Psalm 22 describes the sufferings of the Good Shepherd, Jesus, for His sheep. Psalm 23 describes His care for His sheep. Psalm 24 describes His return in glory to reward His sheep. Psalm 22 includes prophetic sayings which Jesus uttered from the cross. It also predicts the afflictions he endured there (Matthew 27:27–56; Luke 22:63–65; 23:18–49). Isaiah 53 also prophesies the sufferings that Jesus suffered on the cross.

The book of Psalms is composed of individual songs, hymns, or poems, each of which is a ''Psalm'' in and of itself. These works contain a wide variety of themes. Some Psalms focus on praising and worshipping God. Others cry out in anguish over the pain of life. Still other Psalms look forward to the coming of the Messiah. While some Psalms are related, each has its own historical and biblical context.