Psalms 22:7

Psa 22:7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, [saying],

Ver. 7. All they that see me laugh me to scorn] Contemptus populi ludibriis et opprobriis declaratur, Luk 22:63. The apostle speaketh of cruel mockings, Heb 11:36. The Pharisees, who were covetous, derided him, Luk 16:14, and set his people on the stage, as it were, for mocking stocks, Heb 10:36. Now, post Carthaginem vinci neminem puduit, saith the historian. If Christ, David, and other precious men were so disgraced and abused by the world, what matter is it for us?

They shoot out the lip, they shake the head] God is sensible of any the least affront or offence done to his people, be it but in an unseemly gesture, as Laban’s lowerings, {Mat 27:39} and sets them upon record against the day of account.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ver. 7. All they that see me laugh me to scorn. Read the evangelistic narrative of the ridicule endured by the Crucified One, and then consider, in the light of this expression, how it grieved him. The iron entered into his soul. Mockery has for its distinctive description "cruel mockings; "those endured by our Lord were of the most cruel kind. The scornful ridicule of our Lord was universal; all sorts of men were unanimous in the derisive laughter, and vied with each other in insulting him. Priests and people, Jews and Gentiles, soldiers and civilians, all united in the general scoff, and that at the time when he was prostrate in weakness and ready to die. Which shall we wonder at the most, the cruelty of man or the love of the bleeding Saviour? How can we ever complain of ridicule after this?

They shoot out the lip, they shake the head. These were gestures of contempt. Pouting, grinning, shaking of the head, thrusting out of the tongue, and other modes of derision were endured by our patient Lord; men made faces at him before whom angels vail their faces and adore. The basest signs of disgrace which disdain could devise were maliciously cast at him. They punned upon his prayers, they made matter for laughter of his sufferings, and set him utterly at nought. Herbert sings of our Lord as saying,

"Shame tears my soul, my body many a wound; Sharp nails pierce this, but sharper that confound;

Reproaches which are free, while I am bound.

Was ever grief like mine?"

Ver. 7. All they that see me laugh me to scorn, etc. Imagine this dreadful scene. Behold this motley multitude of rich and poor, of Jews and Gentiles! Some stand in groups and gaze. Some recline at ease and stare. Others move about in restless gratification at the event. There is a look of satisfaction on every countenance. None are silent. The velocity of speech seems tardy. The theme is far too great for one member to utter. Every lip, and head, and finger, is now a tongue. The rough soldiers, too, are busied in their coarse way. The work of blood is over. Refreshment has become necessary. Their usual beverage of vinegar and water is supplied to them. As they severally are satisfied, they approach the cross, hold some forth to the Saviour, and bid him drink as they withdraw it. Lu 23:36. They know he must be suffering an intense thirst, they therefore aggravate it with the mockery of refreshment. Cruel Romans! and ye, O regicidal Jews! Was not death enough? Must mockery and scorn be added? On this sad day Christ made you one indeed! Dreadful unitywhich constituted you the joint mockers and murderers of the Lord of glory! John Stevenson.

Ver. 7. All they that see me, laugh me to scorn, etc. There have been persons in our own days, whose crimes have excited such detestation that the populace would probably have torn them in pieces, before, and even after their trial, if they could have had them in their power. Yet when these very obnoxious persons have been executed according to their sentence, if, perhaps, there was not one spectator who wished them to escape, yet neither was one found so lost to sensibility as to insult them in their dying moments. But when Jesus suffers, all that see him laugh him to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head; they insult his character and his hope. John Newton.

Ver. 7. They shoot out the lip. To protrude the lower lip is, in the East, considered a very strong indication of contempt. Its employment is chiefly confined to the lower orders. Illustrated Commentary.

Ver. 7-8. It was after his crucifixion, and during the hours that he hung upon the cross, that his sufferings in this waythe torment of beholding and hearing the scorn and mockery which was made of the truth of his person and doctrineexceedingly abounded, and in such and so many kinds of mockery and insult that some consider this to have been the chiefest pain and sorrow which he endured in his most sacred passion. For as, generally, those things are considered the most painful to endure of which we are most sensible, so it seems to these persons, that sufferings of this kind contain in them more cause for feeling than any other sufferings. And, therefore, although all the torments of the Lord were very great, so that each one appears the greatest, and no comparison can be made between them; yet, nevertheless, this kind of suffering appears to be the most painful. Because in other troubles, not only the pain and suffering of them, but the troubles themselves, in themselves, may be desired by us, and such as we suffer for love's sake, in order by them to evince that love. Wherefore, the stripes, the crown of thorns, the buffetings, the cross, the gall, the vinegar, and other bodily torments, besides that they torment the body, are often a means for promoting the divine honour, which it holds in esteem above all else. But to blaspheme God, to give the lie to eternal truths, to deface the supreme demonstration of the divinity and majesty of the Son of God (although God knoweth how to extract from these things the good which he intends), nevertheless are, in their nature, things, which, from their so greatly affecting the divine honour, although they may be, for just considerations, endured, can never be desired by any one, but must be abhorrent to all. Our Lord then, being, of all, the most zealous for the divine honour, for which he also died, found in this kind of suffering, more than in all other, much to abhor and nothing to desire. Therefore with good reason it may be held to be the greatest of all, and that in which, more than in all other, he exhibited the greatest suffering and patience. Fra Thome de Jesu, in "The Sufferings of Jesus, "1869.

Ver. 7-9. All that see me made but a laughynge stocke on me, they mocked me wyth their lyppes, and wagged theyr heades at me. Sayenge, thys vyllayne referred all thynges to the Lord, let him now delyver hym yf he wyll, for he loveth hym well. But yet thou arte he whyche leddest me oute of my mother's wombe myne own refuge, even from my mother's teats. As sone as I came into this worlde, I was layde in thy lappe, thou art my God even from my mother's wombe. From "The Psalter of David in English, truly translated out of Latyn, "in "Devout Psalms, "etc., by E. Whitchurche, 1547.

Ver. 7-8. See Psalms on "Ps 22:7" for further information.

Ver. 7-9. See Psalms on "Ps 22:7" for further information.

Ver. 7-9. See Psalms on "Ps 22:7" for further information.

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Psa 22:7. All they that see me laugh me to scorn — Instead of pitying, or helping, they deride and insult over me: such is their inhumanity; they shoot out the lip — They gape with their mouths, and put forth their tongues in mockery; they shake the head — Another custom of scoffers. This and the next verse are applied to Christ, (Mat 27:39; Mat 27:43,) in whom they were literally fulfilled when he hung upon the cross; and the priests and elders used the very words that had been put into their mouths by the spirit of prophecy so long before. “O the wisdom and knowledge of God,” exclaims Dr. Horne, “and the infatuation and blindness of man! The same are too often the sentiments of those who live in times when the church and her righteous cause, with their advocates, are under the clouds of persecution, and seem to sink beneath the displeasure of the powers of the world. But such do not believe, or do not consider, that in the Christian economy death is followed by a resurrection, when it will appear that God forsaketh not them that are his, but they are preserved for ever.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. (Psa 22:7). All seeing me mock at me; they pout with the lip; they shake the head. This is an amplification of the last clause of the verse preceding. The verb in the second member of the sentence is of doubtful meaning. It may either mean to stretch the mouth, or to part the lips with a derisive grin. (See Psa 35:21, Job 16:10.) The shaking of the head may be either a vague gesture of contempt, or the usual expression of negation, by a lateral or horizontal motion, equivalent to saying "No, no!" i.e. there is no hope for him. Either of these explanations is more probable than that which applies the words to a vertical movement of the head or nodding, in token of assent, and acquiescence in the sufferings of the sufferer, as just and right. The peculiar gesture here described is expressly attributed by the evangelists to the spectators of our Saviour's crucifixion (Mat 27:39, Mar 15:29). It is one of those minor coincidences, which, although they do not constitute the main subject of the prophecy, draw attention to it, and help us to identify it.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22:7 Everyone mocks the psalmist’s confidence in the Lord (see 3:2; Matt 27:43), which shames him (Pss 44:13-14; 74:10; 89:50; 109:25).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For the Jews used one of the gestures (Mat 27:39) here mentioned, when taunting Him on the cross, and (Mat 27:43) reproached Him almost in the very, language of this passage.

shoot out--or, "open."

the lip--(Compare Psa 35:21).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. Laugh me to scorn] They utterly despised me; set me at naught; treated me with the utmost contempt. Laugh to scorn is so completely antiquated that it should be no longer used; derided, despised, treated with contempt, are much more expressive and are still in common use.

They shoot out the lip, they shake the head] This is applied by St. Matthew, Mt 27:39, to the conduct of the Jews towards our Lord, when he hung upon the cross; as is also the following verse. But both are primarily true of the insults which David suffered from Shimei and others during the rebellion of Absalom; and, as the cases were so similar, the evangelist thought proper to express a similar conduct to Jesus Christ by the same expressions. These insults our Lord literally received, no doubt David received the same.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. All those who see me mock at me, etc., Bishop Horsley reads these words, “All who see me insult [me] with gestures of derision:” and says, “I can no otherwise render the verb לעג, than by this periphrasis. Bishop Mant translates the whole verse thus,

“All who to slaughter see me led, Deride my state distrest; They curl the lip, they shake the head, They point the taunting jest:”

And observes, “The distinctness and colouring of the prophetic picture here are as striking to the imagination, as the subject is painful to the heart.”

“To protrude the lower lip is, in the East, considered a very strong indication of contempt. Its employment is chiefly confined to the lower orders.” — Illustrated Commentary upon the Bible.

בשפה, besaphah, with the lip.

“Qu’il avoit Dieu au ciel pour garent qui s’avoir bien faire la vengence de ses mesdisans.” — Fr.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(7) Laugh me to scorn.—LXX., ἐξεμυκτήρισάν, the verb used by St. Luke in his description of the crucifixion (Luk_23:35).

Shoot out the lip.—Literally, open with the lip (Psa_35:21; Job_16:10). We use the expression, “curl the lip.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. laugh me to scorn] LXX. ἐξεμυκτήρισαν, the word used by St Luke (Luk_23:35) of the rulers scoffing at Christ. They gape with their lips (Job_16:10; Psa_35:21); they shake the head (Psa_109:25; Lam_2:15; Job_16:4), gestures partly of contempt, partly of feigned abhorrence. Comp. Mat_27:39.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

All they that see me laugh me to scorn,.... To the afflicted pity should be shown; but instead or pitying him in his distresses they laughed at him; this must be understood of the soldiers when they had him in Pilate's hall, and of the Jews in general when he hung upon the cross; some particular persons must be excepted, as John the beloved disciple, the mother of our Lord, Mary Magdalene, and some other women, who stood afar off beholding him;

they shoot out the lip; or "open with the lip" (y); they made mouths at him, they put out their lips, or gaped upon him with their mouths, and in a way of sport and pastime made wide mouths and drew out their tongues, as in Job 16:10;

they shake the head, saying; in a way of scorn and derision, as in Lam 2:15. This was fulfilled in the Jews, Mat 27:39.

(y) "hiatum fecerunt labiis suis", Grotius; "they make a mow with their lip", Ainsworth.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

All they that see me laugh me to scorn - They deride or mock me. On the word used here - לעג lâ‛ag - see the notes at Psa 2:4. The meaning here is to mock, to deride, to treat with scorn. The idea of laughing is not properly in the word, nor would that necessarily occur in the treatment here referred to. How completely this was fulfilled in the case of the Saviour, it is not necessary to say. Compare Mat 27:39, “And they that passed by, reviled him.” There is no evidence that this literally occurred in the life of David.

They shoot out the lip - Margin, “open.” The Hebrew word - פטר pâṭar - means properly “to split, to burst open;” then, as in this place, it means to open wide the mouth; to stretch the mouth in derision and scorn. See Psa 35:21, “They opened their mouth wide against me.” Job 16:10, “they have gaped upon me with their mouth.”

They shake the head - In contempt and derision. See Mat 27:39, “Wagging their heads.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Laugh me to scorn; instead of pitying or helping, deride me, and insult over me; such is their inhumanity.

They shoot out the lip; they gape with their mouths, and put forth their tongues, in mockery. See Job 16:10; Isa 57:4.

They shake the head; another posture of scoffers. See Job 16:4; Psa 44:14; Isa 37:22. This and the next verse are applied to Christ, Mat 27:39,43.

Saying: this supplement is very usual, and here it is necessary, because the next words are the expressions of his insulting enemies.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Laugh me to scorn—Literally, mock at me; deride me by mimic imitations of my acts, words, or professions. See Mat_27:29-31.

They shoot out the lip—The idea is, a protrusion of the lips as an expression of scorn. Mendelssohn says: “It does not signify an opening of the mouth, as if for laughter, but a slight motion of the lips according to the way of mockers. Our old English word pout pretty well gives the force of the word.”—Phillips.

They shake the head—Swaying the head to and fro in scorn. Psa_109:25. The idea is literally given in Mat_27:39

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

All they that see me laugh me to scorn; exemukthrisan me , LXX"). (comp. Luk_23:35, "The people stood beholding; and the rulers also with them derided him (exemukthrizoN ) they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying. (see Mat_27:39 Mar_15:29: "They that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads," where the expression of the Septuagint is again used)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shoot out - They gape with their mouths, in mockery. This and the next verse are applied to Christ, Matt. xxvii, 39, 43.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

All they that see me

Psalms 22. is a graphic picture of death by crucifixion. The bones (of the hands, arms, shoulders, and pelvis) out of joint (Psa 22:14) the profuse perspiration caused by intense suffering (Psa 22:14); the action of the heart affected (v .14); strength exhausted, and extreme thirst (Psa 22:15); the hands and feet pierced (Psa 22:16) partial nudity with hurt to modesty (Psa 22:17), are all incidental to that mode of death. The accompanying circumstances are precisely those fulfilled in the crucifixion of Christ. Psa 22:14-17. The desolate cry of; Psa 22:1; Mat 27:46, the periods of light and darkness of; Psa 22:2; Mat 27:45 the contumely of; Psa 22:6-8; Psa 22:12; Psa 22:13; Psa 22:18; Mat 27:29-43 the casting lots of verse Psa 22:18 (Mat 27:35), all were literally fulfilled. When it is remembered that crucifixion was a Roman, not Jewish form of execution, the proof of inspiration is irresistible.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I am a worm He refers to all Israel as one man.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

But I am a worm: – I am despised in the sight of the nations as the worm,

and no man: – and I am not a man in their sight, but

A reproach of men and the despised of the people: – (Thus are) we in exile;

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.