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Psalm 22:13
They open their mouths wide against me, lions tearing prey and roaring.
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.
15My 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.
Notice
Mouths opened like roaring lions make the speaker’s danger vivid: the reader encounters someone who feels exposed to people poised to tear him apart.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What does the picture of lions tearing prey convey that the word hostility would leave unsaid?
Write on thisWhen, if ever, have someone’s words felt threatening enough for this lion image to fit?
Write on thisWhat do you notice about this description coming after the plea for God to stay near?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 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
Job 16:10They have gaped on me with their mouth. They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully. They gather themselves together against me.Both speakers describe people opening their mouths against them, with Job also naming blows to the cheek and attackers gathering.
1 Peter 5:8Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.Both use a roaring lion to portray destructive hostility; Peter names the devil, while the psalm describes the speaker’s attackers.
Psalm 35:21Yes, they opened their mouth wide against me. They said, “Aha! Aha! Our eye has seen it!”Both describe mouths opened wide against the speaker; Psalm 35 includes the taunting words spoken from those mouths.
Psalm 17:12He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey, as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.Both compare an enemy to a lion intent on prey, making the threat of violence concrete.
Lamentations 2:16All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that …Both describe enemies opening their mouths wide against someone; Lamentations adds hissing, gnashing teeth, and boasts of destruction.
Matthew 26:3–4Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas.The connection is limited: Matthew names leaders gathering at Caiaphas’s court, while the psalm describes attackers; the supplied Matthew verse states no threat.
Lamentations 3:46“All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.Both describe enemies opening their mouths wide, directed against one speaker in the psalm and a community in Lamentations.
Matthew 26:59–65Now the chief priests, the elders, and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus, that they might put him to death,Both portray people intent on harm; Matthew specifies false testimony against Jesus sought as a means to put him to death.
Psalm 7:2lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to deliver.Both picture danger as a lion tearing prey; Psalm 7 also names the absence of anyone to deliver.
Luke 11:39The Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion and wickedness.The link is limited: the psalm describes open aggression, while Jesus exposes inward wickedness beneath outward cleanliness.
Psalm 22:7All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,Both describe hostility aimed at the same speaker, with mocking lips in verse 7 and lionlike mouths in verse 13.
Ezekiel 22:27–28Her princes within it are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.Both compare human attackers to predators tearing prey; Ezekiel names princes whose violence serves their pursuit of dishonest gain.
Where this verse fits
Injustice and anger. anxiety or panic.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Such fierce language belongs within prayer. You do not have to soften a threat before naming it before God; this cry describes danger while help is still absent.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 22:13. 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).