22:15 The roof of my mouth 1 is as dry as a piece of pottery;
my tongue sticks to my gums. 2
You 3 set me in the dust of death. 4
69:21 They put bitter poison 5 into my food,
and to quench my thirst they give me vinegar to drink. 6
1 tc Heb “my strength” (כֹּחִי, kokhiy), but many prefer to emend the text to חִכִּי (khikiy, “my palate”; cf. NEB, NRSV “my mouth”) assuming that an error of transposition has occurred in the traditional Hebrew text.
2 tn Cf. NEB “my jaw”; NASB, NRSV “my jaws”; NIV “the roof of my mouth.”
3 sn Here the psalmist addresses God and suggests that God is ultimately responsible for what is happening because of his failure to intervene (see vv. 1-2, 11).
4 sn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the progressive nature of the action. The psalmist is in the process of dying.
5 tn According to BDB 912 s.v. II רֹאשׁ the term can mean “a bitter and poisonous plant.”
6 sn John 19:28-30 appears to understand Jesus’ experience on the cross as a fulfillment of this passage (or Ps 22:15). See the study note on the word “thirsty” in John 19:28.