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Wednesday, July 9th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Read the Bible

New Living Translation

Psalms 22:21

Snatch me from the lion's jaws and from the horns of these wild oxen.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Jesus Continued;   Persecution;   Unicorn (Wild Ox, Rsv);   The Topic Concordance - Jesus Christ;   Suffering;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Horns;   Unicorn;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Psalms, the Book of;   Unicorn;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Animals;   Horn;   Psalms, book of;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Deliver;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Unicorn;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Aijeleth Shahar;   David;   Unicorn;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Animals;   Dog;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Aijeleth Hash-Shahar;   Atonement;   English Versions;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Psalms;   Sin;   Unicorn;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Lion;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Unicorn;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Cedron;   Naphtali;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Lion;   Messiah;   Psalms the book of;   Unicorn;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Lion;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Horn;   Mouth;   Unicorn;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Horn;   Mouth;   Unicorn;   Wild-Ox;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Unicorn;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Save me from the lion’s mouth,from the horns of wild oxen.You answered me!
Hebrew Names Version
Save me from the lion's mouth; Yes, from the horns of the wild oxen you have answered me.
King James Version
Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
English Standard Version
Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
New Century Version
Rescue me from the lion's mouth; save me from the horns of the bulls.
New English Translation
Rescue me from the mouth of the lion, and from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered me!
Amplified Bible
Save me from the lion's mouth; From the horns of the wild oxen You answer me.
New American Standard Bible
Save me from the lion's mouth; From the horns of the wild oxen You answer me.
World English Bible
Save me from the lion's mouth; Yes, from the horns of the wild oxen you have answered me.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Saue me from the lyons mouth, and answere me in sauing me from the hornes of the vnicornes.
Legacy Standard Bible
Save me from the mouth of the lion;From the horns of the wild oxen You have answered me.
Berean Standard Bible
Save me from the mouth of the lion; at the horns of the wild oxen You have answered Me!
Contemporary English Version
Don't let lions eat me. You rescued me from the horns of wild bulls,
Complete Jewish Bible
Rescue me from the sword, my life from the power of the dogs.
Darby Translation
Save me from the lion's mouth. Yea, from the horns of the buffaloes hast thou answered me.
Easy-to-Read Version
Rescue me from the lion's mouth. Protect me from the horns of the bulls.
George Lamsa Translation
Save me from the lions mouth; save my meekness from the haughty,
Good News Translation
Rescue me from these lions; I am helpless before these wild bulls.
Lexham English Bible
Save me from the mouth of the lion, and from the horns of the wild oxen answer me.
Literal Translation
Save Me from the lion's mouth; and from the horns of the wild oxen. You have answered Me.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Saue me from the lyons mouth, and heare me fro amonge the hornes off the vnicornes.
American Standard Version
Save me from the lion's mouth; Yea, from the horns of the wild-oxen thou hast answered me.
Bible in Basic English
Be my saviour from the lion's mouth; let me go free from the horns of the cruel oxen.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Deliver my soul from the sword; mine only one from the power of the dog.
King James Version (1611)
Saue me from the lyons mouth: for thou hast heard me from the hornes of the vnicornes.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Saue me from the Lions mouth: delyuer me from the hornes of the Unicornes.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Save me from the lion’s mouth; and regard my lowliness from the horns of the unicorns.
English Revised Version
Save me from the lion's mouth; yea, from the horns of the wild-oxen thou hast answered me.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Make thou me saaf fro the mouth of a lioun; and my mekenesse fro the hornes of vnycornes.
Update Bible Version
Save me from the lion's mouth; Yes, from the horns of the wild-oxen you have answered me.
Webster's Bible Translation
Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
New King James Version
Save Me from the lion's mouth And from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me.
New Life Bible
Save me from the lion's mouth, and from the horns of the wild bulls You answer me.
New Revised Standard
Save me from the mouth of the lion! From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Save me from the mouth of the lion, - Yea, from the horns of wild beasts, hast thou delivered me.
Douay-Rheims Bible
(21-22) Save me from the lion’s mouth; and my lowness from the horns of the unicorns.
Revised Standard Version
Save me from the mouth of the lion, my afflicted soul from the horns of the wild oxen!
Young's Literal Translation
Save me from the mouth of a lion: -- And -- from the horns of the high places Thou hast answered me!
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Save me from the lion's mouth; From the horns of the wild oxen You answer me.

Contextual Overview

11 Do not stay so far from me, for trouble is near, and no one else can help me. 12 My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls; fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in! 13 Like lions they open their jaws against me, roaring and tearing into their prey. 14 My life is poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within me. 15 My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead. 16 My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and feet. 17 I can count all my bones. My enemies stare at me and gloat. 18 They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing. 19 O Lord , do not stay far away! You are my strength; come quickly to my aid! 20 Save me from the sword; spare my precious life from these dogs.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

me from: Luke 22:53, John 14:30, 2 Timothy 4:17, 1 Peter 5:8

horns: Numbers 23:22, Deuteronomy 33:17, Job 39:9, Job 39:10, Isaiah 34:7, John 8:59, Acts 4:27, Acts 5:30-32

Reciprocal: Leviticus 1:15 - wring off his head Psalms 22:13 - as a Psalms 25:20 - O Psalms 35:17 - rescue Psalms 118:25 - Save Psalms 142:7 - the righteous Zechariah 11:3 - a voice Luke 10:3 - I send Hebrews 5:7 - and Revelation 13:2 - and his mouth

Cross-References

Genesis 22:1
Some time later, God tested Abraham's faith. "Abraham!" God called. "Yes," he replied. "Here I am."
Genesis 22:12
"Don't lay a hand on the boy!" the angel said. "Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son."
Genesis 24:10
Then he loaded ten of Abraham's camels with all kinds of expensive gifts from his master, and he traveled to distant Aram-naharaim. There he went to the town where Abraham's brother Nahor had settled.
Numbers 23:7
This was the message Balaam delivered: "Balak summoned me to come from Aram; the king of Moab brought me from the eastern hills. ‘Come,' he said, ‘curse Jacob for me! Come and announce Israel's doom.'
Job 1:1
There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil.
Job 32:2
Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the clan of Ram, became angry. He was angry because Job refused to admit that he had sinned and that God was right in punishing him.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Save me from the lion's mouth,.... Either the devil, who is as a roaring lion, whom Christ overcame both in the garden and on the cross, and destroyed him and his works; or all his wicked enemies, especially the most powerful of them, who were in greatest authority, as the chief priests and elders; so rulers and civil magistrates, who are cruel and unmerciful, are compared to lions, Proverbs 28:15;

for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns; some read this as a prayer like the former, "hear thou me" l, c. that is, deliver me but according to our version it expresses what God had done, that he had heard him and saved him; and is used as a reason or argument with him that he would regard also his other petitions: or it may have respect to what follows, that since God had heard him, and delivered him out of the hands of his most powerful enemies, therefore he would declare his name and praise him; for the unicorn being a very strong creature, and its strength lying much in its horn, with which it pushes and does mischief; see Numbers 23:22. Christ's strong and potent enemies are intended here; such as Satan and his principalities and powers, the sanhedrim of the Jews, Herod, Pontius Pilate, and others, from whose power he was freed when raised from the dead. According to Pliny m, the monoceros, or unicorn, is the fiercest of wild beasts; in its body like a horse, it has the head of an hart and feet of an elephant, the tail of a bear, makes a great bellowing; has one black horn rising up in the middle of the forehead, of two cubits long; it is denied that it was ever taken alive, which agrees with Job 39:9;

Job 39:9- : and

Job 39:9- :.

l עניתני "exaudi me", Muis, Gejerus, Michaelis. m Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 21.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Save me from the lion’s mouth - His enemies represented as fierce and ravening lions, compare Psalms 22:13,

For thou hast heard me - The word “heard” in this place is equivalent to “saved” - or saved in answer to prayer. The fact of “hearing” the prayer, and answering it, is regarded as so identical, or the one as so certainly following from the other, that they may be spoken of as the same thing.

From the horns of the unicorns - The idea here is, that he cried to God when exposed to what is here called “the horns of the unicorns.” That is, when surrounded by enemies as fierce and violent as wild beasts - as if he were among “unicorns” seeking his life - he had called upon God, and God had heard him. This would refer to some former period of his life, when surrounded by dangers, or exposed to the attacks of wicked men, and when he had called upon God, and had been heard. There were not a few occasions alike in the life of David and in the life of the Saviour, to which this would be applicable. The fact that he had thus been delivered from danger, is now urged as an argument why God was to be regarded as able to deliver him again, and why the prayer might be offered that he would do it; compare Psalms 22:9-11. To see the force of this it is not necessary to be able to determine with accuracy what is meant here by the word rendered unicorn, or whether the psalmist referred to the animal now denoted by that term. The existence of such an animal was long regarded as fabulous; but though it has been proved that there is such an animal, it is not necessary to suppose that the psalmist referred to it. Gesenius renders the word - ראם re'êm - “buffalo” (Lexicon) So also DeWette. See the notes at Job 39:9-10, where the meaning of the word is fully considered. The word occurs elsewhere only in Numbers 23:22; Numbers 24:8; Deuteronomy 33:17; Psalms 29:6; Psalms 92:10; Isaiah 34:7, in all which places it is rendered “unicorn,” or “unicorns.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 22:21. Save me from the lion's mouth — Probably our Lord here includes his Church with himself. The lion may then mean the Jews; the unicorns, רמים remin (probably the rhinoceros,) the Gentiles. For the unicorn, Numbers 23:22. There is no quadruped or land animal with one horn only, except the rhinoceros; but there is a marine animal, the narwhal or monodon, a species of whale, that has a very fine curled ivory horn, which projects from its snout. One in my own museum measures seven feet four inches, and is very beautiful. Some of these animals have struck their horn through the side of a ship; and with it they easily transfix the whale, or any such animal. The old Psalter says, "The unicorn es ane of the prudest best that es, so that he wil dye for dedeyn if he be haldyn ogayn his wil."


 
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