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Psalm 22:21
Save me from the lion’s mouth! Yes, you have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen.
19But don’t be far off, LORD. You are my help. Hurry to help me!
20Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog.
21Save me from the lion’s mouth! Yes, you have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22I will declare your name to my brothers. Among the assembly, I will praise you.
23You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him! Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel!
Notice
The turn from “Save me” to “you have rescued me” marks a sudden change in the prayer, with the lion’s mouth and horns still in view.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What danger, if any, would you name through the picture of a lion’s mouth?
Write on thisWhere does your prayer today fall between asking for rescue and naming help God has given?
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
2 Timothy 4:17But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear. So I was delivered …Both describe rescue from a lion’s mouth and credit the Lord with help in the face of danger.
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 lion to picture danger; Peter identifies the lion with the devil, while the psalm leaves the threat unnamed.
Psalm 118:25Save us now, we beg you, LORD! LORD, we beg you, send prosperity now.Both prayers ask God to save, using a direct plea that leaves the urgency plain.
Numbers 23:22God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.Both mention the wild ox and God’s rescue, though Numbers uses the animal’s strength to describe God rather than danger.
Job 39:9“Will the wild ox be content to serve you? Or will he stay by your feeding trough?Both mention the wild ox: the psalm names its dangerous horns, while Job questions whether it will serve a human.
John 14:30I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me.Both speak of danger facing the speaker; John names the prince of the world, while the psalm uses animal imagery.
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 …Both describe hostile forces; Acts names those gathered against Jesus, while the psalm pictures the threat through a lion and wild oxen.
Deuteronomy 33:17Majesty belongs to the firstborn of his herd. His horns are the horns of the wild ox. With them he will push all the peoples to the ends of the earth. They are …Both name the horns of the wild ox as a force that threatens others, though Deuteronomy applies the image to Joseph’s descendants.
Isaiah 34:7The wild oxen will come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; and their land will be drunken with blood, and their dust made greasy with …Wild oxen appear in both passages, but the psalm seeks rescue from their horns while Isaiah depicts their bloody fall.
John 8:59Therefore they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, having gone through the middle of them, and so passed by.Both concern escape from lethal danger: the psalm declares God’s rescue, while John recounts Jesus leaving those who would stone him.
Leviticus 1:15The priest shall bring it to the altar, and wring off its head, and burn it on the altar; and its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar;The connection is limited to threatened or taken life: the psalm seeks rescue, while Leviticus describes a sacrificial killing.
Psalm 22:13They open their mouths wide against me, lions tearing prey and roaring.The mouths of roaring lions in verse 13 become the lion’s mouth from which the speaker asks God to save him.
Where this verse fits
Anxiety or panic. answered prayer. fear for the future.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The cry for rescue is blunt. You need no polished words to ask God for help; the speaker names the threat and credits God with rescue.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 22:21. 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).