Psalm 22:9 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.

NIV: Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother's breast.

NASB: Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts.

CSB: It was you who brought me out of the womb, making me secure at my mother's breast.

NLT: Yet you brought me safely from my mother’s womb and led me to trust you at my mother’s breast.

KJV: But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.

NKJV: But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts.

David credits God with caring for him from birth and blessing David with a godly heart from a young age. This is the beginning of a response to the taunts of David's enemies (Psalm 22:7–8). The ability to trust in God, based on what He has already done, is how Scripture explains the nature of true faith (Hebrews 11:13–16; Psalm 22:4–5).

God is the giver of life, and all life is precious to Him. In Psalm 139:13 David wrote: "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb." Divine intervention in human history gave us the virgin-born Son of God. Galatians 4:4–5 declares, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons."

It may seem hard to believe that a weaning child can trust in God, but in Bible times, a child might not be weaned until he or she was three years old. Given spiritual training from birth, a three-year-old child can trust in the Lord. Surely, Jesus received such training from Mary and Joseph and developed a strong faith. Joseph, a descendant of David, being "a just man" (Matthew 1:19), would have taken seriously his responsibility for training the infant Jesus in the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 6:4–9).

Psalm 22:1–21 depicts David's questioning of God's silence and estrangement from him in his desperate situation. The structure of this prayer, and the images it evokes, are prophecies of Messiah's sufferings. Isaiah 53:3–8 likewise predicts these experiences and explains that Messiah endured them for us sinners. Matthew 27:46 reports that Jesus quoted Psalm 22:1 when he was suffering on the cross. First Peter 2:24 –25 refers to the sufferings of Jesus the Messiah and calls Jesus ''the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.''

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.