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.
Parallel translations
- WEB My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have brought me into the dust of death.
- BSB My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death.
- NKJV My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death.
- NASB My strength is dried up like a piece of pottery, And my tongue clings to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death.
- NLT My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
His strength is dried up, his tongue clings to his jaws, and he is brought to the dust of death. He stands at the very threshold of dying.
Overview
Extreme thirst and exhaustion bring the sufferer to 'the dust of death.' The parched tongue recalls Jesus' cry 'I thirst' at the cross (John 19:28). The verse portrays death's approach in agonizing detail, deepening the psalm's prophetic correspondence to the Messiah's death for his people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- John 19:28After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
- Ps 69:3I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
- Ps 69:21They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
- Isa 53:12Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
- Ps 104:29Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
- Ps 38:10My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.
- Ps 32:3–4When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
- 1 Cor 15:3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
- Job 29:10The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
- Prov 17:22A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
- Matt 27:50Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
- Gen 18:27And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes:
- Ps 30:9What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
- Job 10:9Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
- Dan 12:2And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Job 34:15All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
- Lam 4:4The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.
- Gen 3:19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
- Job 7:21And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 22:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.