Read
Psalm 22:17
I can count all of my bones. They look and stare at 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.
16For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They have pierced my hands and feet.
17I can count all of my bones. They look and stare at me.
18They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing.
19But don’t be far off, LORD. You are my help. Hurry to help me!
Notice
Countable bones and staring eyes make suffering exposed and public, with the speaker enduring both bodily distress and the gaze of others.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What difference do the staring onlookers make to how you read the speaker's suffering?
Write on thisWhen, if ever, have you felt exposed to other people's gaze during physical suffering?
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
Luke 23:35The people stood watching. The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen …Both passages describe a sufferer being watched by others; Luke also records the rulers scoffing at Jesus.
Job 33:21His flesh is so consumed away that it can’t be seen. His bones that were not seen stick out.Bones visible through a suffering body connect these passages, with Job describing flesh consumed and bones sticking out.
Psalm 22:14I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me.Both lines name the speaker's bones, describing bodily distress through bones out of joint and bones that can be counted.
Isaiah 52:14Just as many were astonished at you— his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men—Both passages connect a person's damaged bodily condition with the response of those who look at him.
Matthew 27:39–41Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their headsBoth scenes expose a sufferer to others' attention; the psalm names staring, while Matthew records blasphemy and wagging heads.
Luke 23:27A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who also mourned and lamented him.Both passages place others around a sufferer, though Luke names women who mourn and lament rather than merely stare.
Isaiah 45:22“Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.The shared thread is looking, though its direction differs: people stare at the sufferer, while God tells the earth to look to him.
Mark 15:29–32Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days,The sufferer faces staring eyes in the psalm; Jesus faces blasphemous words and wagging heads in Mark.
Obadiah 1:12But don’t look down on your brother in the day of his disaster, and don’t rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Don’t speak …Both concern attention directed toward someone in distress; Obadiah forbids looking down on a brother during disaster.
Psalm 102:3–5For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a torch.Both speakers describe suffering through their bones, counted in Psalm 22 and pictured as burning in Psalm 102.
Isaiah 57:4Whom do you mock? Against whom do you make a wide mouth and stick out your tongue? Aren’t you children of disobedience and offspring of falsehood,Both passages describe hostile attention through bodily gestures: staring eyes in the psalm, mocking mouths and tongues in Isaiah.
Obadiah 1:13Don’t enter into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Don’t look down on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither seize their …Both texts concern people looking at another's affliction; Obadiah forbids looking down on those suffering calamity.
Where this verse fits
Illness or diagnosis. chronic pain. injustice and anger.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Bodily distress and the pain of being watched have a place in prayer to God. This sufferer speaks without hiding how exposed he is.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 22:17. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
Keep goingPsalm 22 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms
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).