They have pierced my hands and my feet
- They have pierced my hands and my feet
They have pierced my hands and my feet is an ambiguous phrase that occurs in English translations of Psalm 22:16.
The text of Psalm 22:16
This verse, which is Psalm 22:17 in the Hebrew verse numbering, reads כארי ידי ורגלי ("like a lion my hands and my feet") in the Masoretic Text. The Septuagint has ωρυξαν χειράς μου και πόδας ("they have dug my hands and feet"). Among Christian interpreters, 'dig' was understood in the sense of 'pierced', and this the rendering in the Syriac.
English translations
Explanations and interpretations
Rashi follows the MT and paraphrases the phrase as "like lions (they maul) my hands and my feet." [Cited in Brent A. Strawn, "Psalm 22:17b: More Guessing," "JBL" 119 (2000) 442.] Lions do feature prominently in the Psalm.
Gregory Vall notes that is possible that the LXX translators were faced with כארו, and the best sense they could make of it was to derive it from the root כרה, "to dig". [Gregory Vall, "Psalm 22:17b: The Old Guess," "JBL" 116 (1997), 45.] Vall proceeds to note nineteen conjectural emendations, [Vall, "The Old Guess," 50 – 52.] while Brent Strawn appeals to iconographical data in support of the MT reading. [Strawn, "Psalm 22:17b: More Guessing," 440.]
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 fact that it might be thought to prefigure the piercing of Jesus' hands and feet.
References
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