1* ① 2My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from me, from the sound of my groaning?
3My God, I call by day, but you never answer; by night and I find no rest.
4Yet you are enthroned the Holy One, the praise of Israel.
5In you our fathers trusted, and you delivered them.
6They cried to you and they were saved; they trusted in you and were not overcome.
7But I am a worm and not human, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
8All who see me make a jest of me; they sneer and shake their heads.
9“He put his trust in the Lord, let the Lord rescue him! If the Lord is his friend, let him help him!”
10Yet it is you who drew me from the womb and kept me safe at my mother’s breasts.
11I have been yours from birth; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
12Be not far from me for trouble is near, and there is no one to help me.
13A herd of bulls surround me – strong bulls of Bashan closing in on me,
14their mouths open, like lions roaring for their prey.
15I am like water draining away; all my bones are out of joint, my heart melts away like wax.
16My throat is dried up like a potsherd; my tongue clings to my palate. You have laid me down in the dust of death.
17Round about me are vicious dogs, villainous rogues encircling me. They have tied up my hands and feet.
18They can count all my bones, for they are looking and watching me,
19dividing my garments among them and casting lots for my raiment.
20O Lord, be not far from me! O my strength, come quickly to my help.
21Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the powerful grip of the dog.
22Rescue me from the jaws of the lion, my soul from the horns of the wild bull.
23I will proclaim your name to my brothers, I will praise you in the assembly,
24“All you who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him! All you sons of Israel, revere him!
25For he has not scorned or loathed the afflicted in his misery. He has not hidden his face from me but has listened when I cried to him.”
26I will praise you in the great assembly, fulfill my vows before all who revere you. ②
27The lowly will eat and be satisfied. Those who seek the Lord will praise him. May your hearts live forever! ③
28The whole earth will acknowledge and turn to the Lord; the families of nations will worship him.
29For dominion belongs to the Lord and he reigns over the nations.
30Before him all those who rest in the earth will bow down, all who go down to the dust.
My soul will live for him. 31My descendants will serve him and proclaim the Lord to coming generations; 32they will announce his salvation to a people yet unborn, “These are the things that he has done.”
- This prayer is a passage from night to day. The first part is gloomy, the second is like a sunrise which gives new life and puts joy in the heart of humans. It is the long lament of the persecuted, who, on the edge of the abyss are given assurance and certitude.
From the beginning, Christian tradition has applied this psalm to Jesus himself. In fact, we find here the passion of Jesus: the bulls, the lions, the dogs are the enemies; only a worm, it is the humiliation of blows and the infamy of the cross; and his clothes were divided just as he said.
Jesus himself made this psalm his own when from the cross he uttered this cry: My God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus himself felt he had appealed to God in vain... And yet, in the midst of this terrible darkness, a light in the soul of Jesus does not waver. He knows that in spite of this silence, the Father is always with him and all the second part of the psalm is a song of trust which ends in a cry of triumph.
The Crucified of Good Friday is transformed to the Glorious Lord and his reign will be universal. Jesus had said: When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things to myself.
Christian life is a passage from death to life. What is marvelous is that through Jesus we can always bring good from evil, happiness from suffering and even from death. - I will fulfill my vows: it is a matter of sacrifices and of thanksgiving.
- It is an allusion to the banquet that God has prepared for his elect: Is 25:6; Lk 22:30.
