Read
Psalm 22:12
Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
10I was thrown on you from my mother’s womb. You are my God since my mother bore me.
11Don’t be far from me, for trouble is near. For there is no one to help.
12Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
13They open their mouths wide against me, lions tearing prey and roaring.
14I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me.
Notice
Strong bulls closing in from every side make the speaker’s danger feel inescapable, with no safe gap visible in the circle around him.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What does the repeated language of being surrounded add to your reading of this prayer?
Write on thisWhat, if anything, in your life would you describe to God with the word “encircled”?
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Where else Scripture says this
11 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Amos 4:1–3Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us …Both passages use cattle from Bashan to portray threatening human strength; Amos names the oppression of poor and needy people.
Acts 4:27“For truly, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you …The psalm pictures many enemies surrounding one sufferer, while Acts names the rulers and peoples gathered against Jesus.
Psalm 68:30Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls with the calves of the peoples. Trample under foot the bars of silver. Scatter the nations who …Both psalms use a multitude of bulls as an image of hostile strength, with Psalm 68 asking God to rebuke it.
Matthew 27:1Now when morning had come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.Both passages depict many opponents against one person; Matthew identifies the leaders planning Jesus’ death.
Ezekiel 39:18You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls, all of them fatlings of …Both passages mention bulls of Bashan, though Ezekiel places them within a violent picture of the mighty being consumed.
Deuteronomy 32:14–15butter from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat. From the blood of the …Both passages associate Bashan with livestock: strong bulls in the psalm and rams among the rich provisions in Deuteronomy.
1 Samuel 23:26Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain; and David hurried to get away for fear of Saul, for Saul and his …Being surrounded links the passages: the psalm describes encircling bulls, while Saul’s men surround David and his men to capture them.
Jeremiah 50:11“Because you are glad, because you rejoice, O you who plunder my heritage, because you are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain, and neigh as strong …Both passages portray hostile people through livestock imagery: bulls in the psalm, a heifer and strong horses in Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 50:27Kill all her bulls. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation.Bulls appear in both passages, though their roles differ: they threaten the psalm’s speaker and face slaughter in Jeremiah.
John 18:3Judas then, having taken a detachment of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.The shared thread is a threatening group: encircling bulls in the psalm and soldiers and officers arriving with weapons in John.
Numbers 21:33They turned and went up by the way of Bashan. Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.Bashan appears in both accounts of danger: its strong bulls picture enemies in the psalm, and its king advances to battle in Numbers.
Where this verse fits
Anxiety or panic. injustice and anger. fear for the future.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Fear does not have to be softened before it is brought to God. In this prayer, the danger is still close and help is still sought.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 22:12. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).