To add to JD's helpful resources, here are a few other thoughts:
Edward Hills, The King James Version Defended, p. 223: Quote: |
And in Ps 22:16 the King James Version reads with the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Latin Vulgate, they pierced my hands and my feet. The Hebrew text, on the other hand, reads, like a lion my hands and my feet, a reading which makes no sense and which, as Calvin observes, was obviously invented by the Jews to deny the prophetic reference to the crucifixion of Christ.
| John Calvin: Quote:
16. They have pierced my hands and my feet. The original word, which we have translated they have pierced, is yrak, caari, which literally rendered is, like a lion. As all the Hebrew Bibles at this day, without exception, have this reading, I would have had great hesitation in departing from a reading which they all support, were it not that the scope of the discourse compels me to do so, and were there not strong grounds for conjecturing that this passage has been fraudulently corrupted by the Jews. With respect to the Septuagint version, there is no doubt that the translators had read in the Hebrew text, wrak, caaru, that is the letter w, vau, where there is now the letter y, yod.3 The Jews prate much about the literal sense being purposely and deliberately overthrown, by our rendering the original word by they have pierced:but for this allegation there is no color of truth whatever. What need was there to trifle so presumptuously in a matter where it was altogether unnecessary? Very great suspicion of falsehood, however, attaches to them, seeing it is the uppermost desire of their hearts to despoil the crucified Jesus of his escutcheons, and to divest him of his character as the Messiah and Redeemer. If we receive this reading as they would have us to do, the sense will be enveloped in marvellous obscurity. In the first place, it will be a defective form of expression, and to complete it, they say it is necessary to supply the verb to surround or to beset. But what do they mean by besetting the hands and the feet? Besetting belongs no more to these parts of the human body than to the whole man. The absurdity of this argument being discovered, they have recourse to the most ridiculous old wives' fables, according to their usual way, saying, that the lion, when he meets any man in his road, makes a circle with his tail before rushing upon his prey:from which it is abundantly evident that they are at a loss for arguments to support their view.
Again, since David, in the preceding verse, has used the similitude of a lion, the repetition of it in this verse would be superfluous. I forbear insisting upon what some of our expositors have observed, namely, that this noun, when it has prefixed to it the letter k, caph, which signifies as, the word denoting similitude, has commonly other points than those which are employed in this passage. My object, however, is not here to labor to convince the Jews who in controversy are in the highest degree obstinate and opinionative. I only intend briefly to show how wickedly they endeavor to perplex Christians on account of the different reading which occurs in this place. When they object, that by the appointment of the law no man was fastened with nails to a cross, they betray in this their gross ignorance of history, since it is certain that the Romans introduced many of their own customs and manners into the provin ces which they had conquered. If they object that David was never nailed to a cross, the answer is easy, namely, that in bewailing his condition, he has made use of a similitude, declaring that he was not less afflicted by his enemies than the man who is suspended on a cross, having his hands and feet pierced through with nails. We will meet a little after with more of the same kind of metaphors.
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3 This word has created much discussion. In the Hebrew Bible, the kethib or textual reading is, yrak, caari, like a lion; the keri, or marginal reading, is wrak, caaru, "they pierced," from hrk, carah, to cut, dig, or pierce. Both readings are supported by MSS. There is, however, no ground to doubt that the genuine reading is, wrak, caaru. As the Septuagint here reads wruxan, they pierced, the translators, doubtless, considered that the correct reading of the Hebrew text was wrak, caaru. The Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic, give a similar rendering. All the Evangelists also quote and apply the passage to the crucifixion of Christ. Besides, the other reading, yrak, caari, as a lion, renders the passage unintelligible. The Chaldee version has combined both the ideas of pierced and as a lion, reading, "Biting, as a lion, my hands and my feet." Our author supposes that the text has been fraudulently corrupted by the Jews, who have intentionally changed wrak, caaru, into yrak, caari. But there is no necessity for supposing that there has been any fraud in the case. In the process of transcription, the change might have been made unintentionally, by the substitution of the letter y, yod, for the letter w, vau, which it so nearly resembles. Walford observes, "that the present reading [yrak, caari] is quite satisfactory, if it be taken as a participle plural in reflexive, and be translated, 'Wounders of my hands and my feet.'"
| Matthew Henry: Quote: |
They pierced my hands and my feet (Ps 22:16), which were nailed to the accursed tree, and the whole body left so to hang, the effect of which must needs be the most exquisite pain and torture. There is no one passage in all the Old Testament which the Jews have so industriously corrupted as this, because it is such an eminent prediction of the death of Christ and was so exactly fulfilled.
| John Gill: Quote:
they pierced my hands and my feet; by nailing them to the cross, which, though not related by the evangelists, is plainly suggested in Joh 20:25; and is referred to in other passages of Scripture, Zec 12:10; and clearly points at the kind of death Christ should die; the death, of the cross, a shameful and painful one. In this clause there is a various reading; in some copies in the margin it is, "as a lion my hands and my feet", but in the text, "they have dug" or "pierced my hands and my feet"; both are joined together in the Targum, "biting as a lion my hands and my feet"; as it is by other interpreters {c}; and Schultens {d} retains the latter, rendering the preceding clause in connection with it thus,
"the assembly of the wicked have broken me to pieces, as a lion, my hands and my feet.''
In the Targum, in the king of Spain's Bible, the phrase, "as a lion", is left out. The modern Jews are for retaining the marginal reading, though without any good sense, and are therefore sometimes charged with a wilful and malicious corruption of the text; but without sufficient proof, since the different reading in some copies might be originally occasioned by the similarity of the letters y and w; and therefore finding it in their copies, or margin, sometimes wrak, and sometimes yrak, have chose that which best suits their purpose, and is not to be wondered at; however, their "masoretic" notes, continued by them, sufficiently clear them from such an imputation, and direct to the true reading of the words; in the small Masorah on the text it is observed that the word is twice used as here pointed, but in two different senses; this is one of the places; the other is Isa 38:13; where the sense requires it should be read "as a lion": wherefore, according to the authors of that note, it must have a different sense here, and not to be understood of a lion; the larger Masorah, in Nu 24:9; observes the word is to be found in two places, in that place and in Ps 22:16; and adds to that, it is written wrak, "they pierced"; and Ben Chayim confirms {e} this reading, and says he found it so written it, some correct copies, and in the margin yrak; and so it is written in several manuscripts; and which is confirmed by the Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Greek, and Vulgate Latin versions; in which it is rendered, "they dug my hands and my feet"; and so took it to be a verb and not a noun: so Apollinarius in his metaphrase; and which is also confirmed by the points; though taking yrak for a participle, as the Targum, that reading may be admitted, as it is by some learned men {f}, who render it "digging" or "piercing", and so has the same sense, deriving the word either from rak or rwk, which signify to dig, pierce, or make hollow; and there are many instances of plural words which end in y, the m omitted, being cut off by an apocope; see 2Sa 23:8; and either way the words are expressive of the same thing, and manifestly point to the sufferings of Christ, and that kind of death he should die, the death of the cross, and the nailing of his hands and feet to it, whereby they were pierced. This passage is sometimes applied by the Jews {g} themselves to their Messiah.
{c} Amamae Antibarb. Bibl. p. 743. {d} Origin. Heb. l. 1. c. 12. s. 8. Vid. Jacob. Alting. Dissert. Philolog. 5. s. 27-34. {e} In Maarcath a, fol. 10. 2. ad Calc. Buxtorf. Bibl. {f} Pocock. Miscell. c. 4. p. 59, 60. Pfeiffer. Exercitat. 8. s. 37. Carpzov. Critic. Sacr. p. 838, 839. Alting. ut supra. (Dissert. Philolog. 5.) s. 48, 49. {g} Pesikta in Yalkut, par. 2. fol. 56. 4.
| Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown: Quote: |
They pierced my hands and my feet. So the Septuagint [ooruxan], Ethiopic, Arabic Vulgate, and Syriac translate [ kaa'ªriy (OT:3738): either this is a compound of kaaraah (OT:3738), pierced, and 'ªriy, a lion - i.e., 'they pierced as a lion:' so the Chaldaic paraphrase, 'Mordentes sicut leo;' or else they read kaa'ªruw, from kaa'ar, to pierce; or the present reading is the Qal participle, plural masculine in regimen, for k-'-r-y-m, from kuwr, vocalized as: ko'ªreey, piercing-literally, (they are) piercers of my hands. Eighteen passages were, according to the Masorah, altered by the scribes. This may have been one; because it is clear the oldest versions read as the English version; and the translation, 'They enclosed (from the previous sentence) my hands and my fast as a lion is very clumsy. The singular for the plural is awkward, where the comparison is to many wicked surrounding the one Messiah; and lions do not enclose or surround (nor could one lion do so), but spring on their prey. Then the repetition of the image of a lion so soon after, in Ps 22:13, and before, in Ps 22:21, renders its introduction in this verse unlikely. Jerome, who declares he altered nothing of the strict Hebrew, translates 'fixerunt,' 'they fixed' to the cross. Aquila, a Jew, and a proselyte, under Adrian, about 133 AD, translates eeschunan, 'they disfigured'-a remarkable admission from one who would have gladly opposed the Christian exposition. The little Masora admits that the same Hebrew, which in Isa 38:13 means 'as a lion,' has a different meaning here (Ps 22:16). So many other particulars of Christ's crucifixion are detailed, that the piercing of His hands and feet was likely to be noticed].
| C F Keil & F Delitzsch
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Andrew
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