My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to 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.
- KJV 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.
- 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.
- 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, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.”
- Ps 69:3I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
- Ps 69:21They also gave me gall for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
- Isa 53:12Therefore will I give him a portion with the great, and he will divide the plunder with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was counted with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
- Ps 104:29You hide your face: they are troubled; you take away their breath: they die, and return to the dust.
- Ps 38:10My heart throbs. My strength fails me. As for the light of my eyes, it has also left me.
- Ps 32:3–4When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
- 1 Cor 15:3For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
- Job 29:10The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
- Prov 17:22A cheerful heart makes good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
- Matt 27:50Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.
- Gen 18:27Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes.
- Ps 30:9“What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth?
- Job 10:9Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?
- Dan 12:2Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Job 34:15all flesh would perish together, and man would turn again to dust.
- Lam 4:4The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst: The young children ask bread, and no man breaks it to them.
- Gen 3:19By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
- Job 7:21Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, 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.