This is a continuing look into Psalm 22 as the music in Jesus’ heart as He endured the cross.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Psalm 22:15 (Tanakh)	Psalm 22:15 (NET)	Psalm 21:16 (NETS)	Psalm 21:16 (Elpenor English)
My strength (כֹּחִ֗י) is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.	The roof of my mouth (kōaḥ, כחי) is as dry as a piece of pottery; my tongue sticks to my gums.  You set me in the dust of death.	my strength (ἰσχύς μου) was dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue is stuck to my throat, and to death’s dust you brought me down,	My strength (ἰσχύς μου) is dried up, like a potsherd; and my tongue is glued to my throat; and thou hast brought me down to the dust of death.

The NET note (33) explaining this translation—The roof of my mouth—reads:

Heb “my strength” (כֹּחִי, kokhi), but many prefer to emend the text to חִכִּי (khiki, “my palate”; cf. NEB, NRSV “my mouth”) assuming that an error of transposition has occurred in the traditional Hebrew text.

Since the Septuagint also has ἰσχύς μου (a form of ἐγώ), My strength, this “error of transposition” would have occurred, taken root and spread sometime prior to the translation of the Septuagint.  Regardless the theme of dryness following the melting heart of the previous verse is fairly clear.

So whether it was his strength or the roof of [his] mouth, it was dried up (yāḇēš, יָ֘בֵ֚שׁ; Septuagint: ἐξηράνθη, a form of ξηραίνω) like a potsherd.  His tongue cleaveth, sticks (dāḇaq, מֻדְבָּ֣ק; Septuagint: κεκόλληται, a form of κολλάω) to his jaws, gums.  He was brought…into the dust (ʿāp̄ār, לַֽעֲפַר; Septuagint: χοῦν, a form of χοῦς) of death.

“I am thirsty!”^[1] Jesus said from the cross.  The NET note (84) reads:

In order to fulfill (τελειωθῇ [teleiōthē], a wordplay on the previous statement that everything was completed [τετέλεσται, tetelestai]) the scripture, he said, “I am thirsty.” The scripture referred to is probably Ps 69:21, “They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Also suggested, however, is Ps 22:15, “My tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth, and you [God] lay me in the dust of death.” Ps 22:1 reads “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?,” a statement Jesus makes from the cross in both Matt 27:46 and Mark 15:34. In light of the connection in the Fourth Gospel between thirst and the living water which Jesus offers, it is highly ironic that here Jesus himself, the source of that living water, expresses his thirst. And since 7:39 associates the living water with the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ statement here in 19:28 amounts to an admission that at this point he has been forsaken by God (cf. Ps 22:1, Matt 27:46, and Mark 15:34).

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.  So I’m going with Jesus was thirsty, rather than that He was abandoned (John 1:32-34) by the Holy Spirit.  He was offered something to drink and received (ἔλαβεν, a form of λαμβάνω) it (John 19:29, 30 NET):

A^[2] jar full of sour wine was there, so^[3] they put a sponge soaked^[4] in sour wine^[5] on a branch of hyssop^[6] and lifted it to his mouth.  When he had received the sour wine,^[7] Jesus said, “It is completed!”  Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

In other words, He drank the sour wine and died, gave up his spirit.

Masoretic Text		Septuagint
Psalm 22:16 (Tanakh)	Psalm 22:16 (NET)	Psalm 21:17 (NETS)	Psalm 21:17 (English Elpenor)
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced (כָּֽ֜אֲרִ֗י) my hands and my feet.	Yes, wild dogs surround me—a gang of evil men crowd around me; like a lion (‘ărî or kārâ, כארי, H738 or H3738) they pin my hands and feet.	because many dogs encircled me, a gathering of evildoers surrounded me.  They gouged (ὤρυξαν) my hands and feet;	For many dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked doers has beset me round: they pierced (ὤρυξαν) my hands and my feet.

The Hebrew word כָּֽ֜אֲרִ֗י, they pierced (Tanakh), like a lion they pin (NET), appears in both lists of verses in the lexicon on blueletterbible.org: as a form of אֲרִי (‘ărî) and as a form of כָּרָה (kārâ).  There doesn’t seem to be any real question that the printed form כָּֽ֜אֲרִ֗י in the Masoretic text is a form of אֲרִי (‘ărî).  A table of the occurrences of forms of אֲרִי (‘ărî) in the Psalms follows.

Forms of H738: אֲרִי (Hebrew)
Reference	Hebrew	Tanakh	NET	BLB Septuagint	ELpenor Septuagint
Psalm 7:2	כְּאַרְיֵ֣ה	like a lion	like a lion	ὡς λέων	ὡς λέων
Psalm 10:9	כְּאַרְיֵ֬ה	as a lion	like a lion	ὡς λέων	ὡς λέων
Psalm 17:12	כְּ֖אַרְיֵה	Like as a lion	Note 27: Heb “like a lion”	ὡσεὶ λέων	ὡσεὶ λέων
Psalm 22:13	אַ֜רְיֵ֗ה	lion	lion	ὡς λέων	ὡς λέων
Psalm 22:16	כָּֽ֜אֲרִ֗י	pierced	like a lion they pin	ὤρυξαν	ὤρυξαν
Psalm 22:21	אַרְיֵ֑ה	from the lion’s	of the lion	λέοντος	λέοντος

The Septuagint is the problem here: While every other occurrence was translated λέων or λέοντος (a form of λέων, lion) the occurrence in question was translated ὤρυξαν (a form of ὀρύσσω, not a lion). It doesn’t seem like a translation of any form of אֲרִי (‘ărî) at all.  “Where, then, does the ‘pierced’ rendering come from?” Conrad R. Gren asked rhetorically in an article—“Piercing the Ambiguities of Psalm 22:16 and the Messiah’s Mission”—published June 2005 in the Journal of Evangelical Theological Society:

First, we note that this translation predates the KJV. The Geneva Bible of 1560 states, “they perced mine hands and my feete,” while the KJV reads, “they pierced my hands and my feet.” These readings come from the Greek Septuagint and Jerome’s Latin Vulgate. Psalm 22:16 is one place where the LXX best reflects the original Hebrew Vorlage text.

Jeff A. Benner explained the Hebrew issue in an article—Psalm 22:17: “Like a lion” or “they pierced?”—on the Ancient Hebrew Research Center online:

The word כארי (ka’ari) is the Hebrew word ארי (ari) meaning “lion,” with the prefix כ (k) meaning “like.” So כארי (ka’ari) means “like a lion.” The word כארו (ka’aru) is the Hebrew verb כאר (K.A.R) meaning “to dig” or possibly “to pierce” (the meaning of this word is determined by examining other Semitic languages that do use this word). When the letter vav (ו) is added to the end of a verb, it identifies the verb as perfect tense (similar to our past tense) and the subject of the verb as third person, masculine, plural. So this verb would be translated as “they dug” or “they pierced.”

Mr. Benner also described the difference between reading printed text and manuscripts:

The Hebrew word כארי (ka’ariy-like a lion) is the word found in the Masoretic Hebrew text in this verse. However, in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which is 1,000 years older than the Masoretic Hebrew text, the letters yud and vav look almost identical, so it is possible, from the Dead Sea Scrolls to read this word as כארו (ka’aru) or כארי (ka’ariy).

“If Psalm 22:17 is translated with the word כארו (ka’aru),” Mr. Benner wrote, “then it would read as; For dogs will surround me, the assembly of evil ones encompasses me; they pierced my hands and feet.”  A table of all occurrences of forms of כָּרָה (kārâ) follows:

Forms of H3738: כָּרָה (Hebrew) כְּרָא (Aramaic)
Reference	Hebrew	Tanakh	NET	BLB Septuagint / ELpenor Septuagint
Genesis 26:25[8]	וַיִּכְרוּ	digged	dug	ὤρυξαν, a form of ὀρύσσω
Genesis 50:5	כָּרִ֤יתִי	have digged	dug	ὤρυξα, a form of ὀρύσσω
Exodus 21:33	יִכְרֶ֥ה	shall dig	digs	λατομήσῃ, a form of λατομέω
Numbers 21:18[9]	כָּר֨וּהָ֙	delved	opened	ἐξελατόμησαν, a form of ἐκλατομέω
2 Chronicles 16:14	כָּֽרָה	had made	had carved out	ὤρυξεν, a form of ὀρύσσω
Job 6:27	וְ֜תִכְר֗וּ	dig	auction off[10]	ἐνάλλεσθε, a form of ἐνάλλομαι
Psalm 7:15[11]	כָּ֖רָה	made	digs	ὤρυξεν / ὤρυξε, forms of ὀρύσσω
Psalm 22:16	כָּֽ֜אֲרִ֗י or כארו	pierced	like a lion they pin	ὤρυξαν, a form of ὀρύσσω
Psalm 40:6	כָּרִ֣יתָ	hast thou opened	Note 18: Heb “you hollowed out”	κατηρτίσω, a form of καταρτίζω
Psalm 57:6	כָּר֣וּ	have digged	have dug	ὤρυξαν, a form of ὀρύσσω
Psalm 94:13	יִכָּרֶ֖ה	be digged	Note 15: Heb “is dug”	ὀρυγῇ, a form of ὀρύσσω
Psalm 119:85	כָּֽרוּ	have digged	dig	διηγήσαντό, a form of διηγέομαι
Proverbs 16:27	כֹּרֶ֣ה	diggeth up	digs up	ὀρύσσει, a form of ὀρύσσω
Proverbs 26:27	כֹּֽרֶה	diggeth	digs	ὀρύσσων, a form of ὀρύσσω
Jeremiah 18:20	כָר֥וּ	have digged	digging	συνελάλησαν, a form of συλλαλέω
Jeremiah 18:22	כָר֚וּ	have digged	dug	ἐνεχείρησαν, a form of ἐγχειρέω

Most were translated with forms of ὀρύσσω.  Mr. Gren offered some historical background on the manuscripts:^[12]

The Qumran Psalters do not contain this verse. However, a scroll from the same era found at nearby Nahal Hever known as 5/6HevPsalms reads, “They have pierced my hands and my feet”!¹² Though the documents were found in 1951 or 52, this reading was not discovered until around 1997! Further, it did not appear in print until The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible was published in 1999. The implications are enormous. Here we have a Hebrew text over 1,000 years older than the oldest known copy of the standard Hebrew Masoretic text, which supports the reading found in the Greek Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate. No longer can Hebrew scholars claim that the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate are here faulty reflections of the original Hebrew.

John wrote about encounters between Jesus’ and his disciples after his resurrection (John 20:19, 20, 24-27 NET):

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week,^[13] the disciples had gathered together^[14] and locked the doors of the place because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.  Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his^[15] side.  Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord…

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus^[16] came.  The other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”  But he replied, “Unless I see the wounds from the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the wounds from the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe it!”

Eight days later the disciples were again together in the house, and Thomas was with them.  Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and examine my hands.  Extend your hand and put it into my side.  Do not continue in your unbelief, but believe.”

If I were a Masorete editing the Bible according to Jewish tradition, including the tradition of rejecting Jesus as Messiah, I wouldn’t want any mention of dug, gouged or pierced hands and feet in an ancient Psalm of David.

Tables comparing Psalm 22:15 and 22:16 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Psalm 22:15 (21:16) and 22:16 (21:17) in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing John 19:28, 29; 20:19, 20 and 20:24 in the NET and KJV follow.

Psalm 22:15 (Tanakh)	Psalm 22:15 (KJV)	Psalm 22:15 (NET)
My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.	My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.	The roof of my mouth is as dry as a piece of pottery; my tongue sticks to my gums.  You set me in the dust of death.

Psalm 22:15 (Septuagint BLB)	Psalm 21:16 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ἐξηράνθη ὡς ὄστρακον ἡ ἰσχύς μου καὶ ἡ γλῶσσά μου κεκόλληται τῷ λάρυγγί μου καὶ εἰς χοῦν θανάτου κατήγαγές με	ἐξηράνθη ὡσεὶ ὄστρακον ἡ ἰσχύς μου, καὶ ἡ γλῶσσά μου κεκόλληται τῷ λάρυγγί μου, καὶ εἰς χοῦν θανάτου κατήγαγές με
Psalm 21:16 (NETS)	Psalm 21:16 (English Elpenor)
my strength was dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue is stuck to my throat, and to death’s dust you brought me down,	My strength is dried up, like a potsherd; and my tongue is glued to my throat; and thou hast brought me down to the dust of death.

Psalm 22:16 (Tanakh)	Psalm 22:16 (KJV)	Psalm 22:16 (NET)
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.	For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.	Yes, wild dogs surround me—a gang of evil men crowd around me; like a lion they pin my hands and feet.

Psalm 22:16 (Septuagint BLB)	Psalm 21:17 (Septuagint Elpenor)
ὅτι ἐκύκλωσάν με κύνες πολλοί συναγωγὴ πονηρευομένων περιέσχον με ὤρυξαν χεῗράς μου καὶ πόδας	ὅτι ἐκύκλωσάν με κύνες πολλοί, συναγωγὴ πονηρευομένων περιέσχον με, ὤρυξαν χεῖράς μου καὶ πόδας
Psalm 21:17 (NETS)	Psalm 21:17 (English Elpenor)
because many dogs encircled me, a gathering of evildoers surrounded me.  They gouged my hands and feet;	For many dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked doers has beset me round: they pierced my hands and my feet.

John 19:28, 29 (NET)	John 19:28, 29 (KJV)
After this Jesus, realizing that by this time everything was completed, said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty!”	After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Μετὰ τοῦτο εἰδὼς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι ἤδη πάντα τετέλεσται (ἵνα τελειωθῇ ἡ γραφή), λέγει· διψῶ	μετα τουτο ειδως ο ιησους οτι παντα ηδη τετελεσται ινα τελειωθη η γραφη λεγει διψω	μετα τουτο ιδων ο ιησους οτι παντα ηδη τετελεσται ινα τελειωθη η γραφη λεγει διψω

A jar full of sour wine was there, so they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a branch of hyssop and lifted it to his mouth.

Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
σκεῦος ἔκειτο ὄξους μεστόν· σπόγγον οὖν μεστὸν τοῦ ὄξους ὑσσώπῳ περιθέντες προσήνεγκαν αὐτοῦ τῷ στόματι	σκευος ουν εκειτο οξους μεστον οι δε πλησαντες σπογγον οξους και υσσωπω περιθεντες προσηνεγκαν αυτου τω στοματι	σκευος ουν εκειτο οξους μεστον οι δε πλησαντες σπογγον οξους και υσσωπω περιθεντες προσηνεγκαν αυτου τω στοματι

John 20:19, 20 (NET)	John 20:19, 20 (KJV)
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the disciples had gathered together and locked the doors of the place because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.  Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”	Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Οὔσης οὖν ὀψίας τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ τῇ μιᾷ σαββάτων καὶ τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων ὅπου ἦσαν οἱ μαθηταὶ διὰ τὸν φόβον τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ἦλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ ἔστη εἰς τὸ μέσον καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· εἰρήνη ὑμῖν	ουσης ουν οψιας τη ημερα εκεινη τη μια των σαββατων και των θυρων κεκλεισμενων οπου ησαν οι μαθηται συνηγμενοι δια τον φοβον των ιουδαιων ηλθεν ο ιησους και εστη εις το μεσον και λεγει αυτοις ειρηνη υμιν	ουσης ουν οψιας τη ημερα εκεινη τη μια των σαββατων και των θυρων κεκλεισμενων οπου ησαν οι μαθηται συνηγμενοι δια τον φοβον των ιουδαιων ηλθεν ο ιησους και εστη εις το μεσον και λεγει αυτοις ειρηνη υμιν

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.  Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side.  Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
καὶ τοῦτο εἰπὼν ἔδειξεν τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τὴν πλευρὰν αὐτοῖς. ἐχάρησαν οὖν οἱ μαθηταὶ ἰδόντες τὸν κύριον	και τουτο ειπων εδειξεν αυτοις τας χειρας και την πλευραν αυτου εχαρησαν ουν οι μαθηται ιδοντες τον κυριον	και τουτο ειπων εδειξεν αυτοις τας χειρας και την πλευραν αυτου εχαρησαν ουν οι μαθηται ιδοντες τον κυριον

John 20:24 (NET)	John 20:24 (KJV)
Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.	But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

NET Parallel Greek	Stephanus Textus Receptus	Byzantine Majority Text
Θωμᾶς δὲ εἷς ἐκ τῶν δώδεκα (ὁ λεγόμενος Δίδυμος) οὐκ ἦν μετ᾿ αὐτῶν ὅτε ἦλθεν Ἰησοῦς	θωμας δε εις εκ των δωδεκα ο λεγομενος διδυμος ουκ ην μετ αυτων οτε ηλθεν ο ιησους	θωμας δε εις εκ των δωδεκα ο λεγομενος διδυμος ουκ ην μετ αυτων οτε ηλθεν ο ιησους