1. See John 12:38; Romans 10:16; Matthew 8:17; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 Peter 2:24 (three different allusions); Acts 8:32–33; Mark 15:28; and Luke 22:37. John W. Welch and John F. Hall, Charting the New Testament (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2002), chart 2-5.

2. Uses of Psalm 22 in the New Testament will be discussed below in the paper. Other Old Testament passages that were used frequently include Exodus 20 (the Ten Commandments), eleven times; Psalm 110 (employed primarily by Paul), ten times; and Psalm 118 (with prophecies of Christ), ten times. As can be seen, only one of these passages—Psalm 118—was used primarily as a witness of Christ’s ministry. No other Old Testament passages rival these with regard to frequency in the New Testament. Welch and Hall, Charting the New Testament, chart 2-5.

3. The title of an article by Keith Meservy is instructive: “Isaiah 53: The Richest Prophecy on Christ’s Atonement in the Old Testament,” in A Witness of Jesus Christ: The 1989 Sperry Symposium on the Old Testament, ed. Richard D. Draper (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1990), 156–57.

4. See, for example, Meservy, “Isaiah 53: The Richest Prophecy,” 156–57; Victor L. Ludlow, Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 1982), 447–57; Donald W. Parry, Jay A. Parry, and Tina M. Peterson, Understanding Isaiah (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 1998), 470–78. Because LDS commentary on Isaiah 53 is so extensive, the authors of a bibliographic survey on Isaiah in the Book of Mormon chose to devote an additional eight pages to the observations of these commentaries in a verse-by-verse format. John S. Thompson and Eric Smith, “Isaiah and the Latter-day Saints: A Bibliographic Survey,” in Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, ed. Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1998), 495–502.

5. Old Testament: Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2001), 187–89.

6. Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2003), 197–99.

7. Old Testament: Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, 117–22; Old Testament Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2003), 309–15. The institute manual does contain a lengthy excerpt from Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1995), 530–34, part of which is quoted at the conclusion of this paper, in which he provides numerous Old Testament prophecies of Christ. Psalm 22 figures prominently among these and is linked by Elder McConkie with prophecy from Isaiah 53.

8. One of the primary reasons for this discrepancy is the Book of Mormon focus on the writings of Isaiah. Christ, like Moroni, provided direct encouragement in his teachings to study the words of Isaiah (see 3 Ne. 20:11; 23:1; Morm. 8:23), leading most LDS studies of the Old Testament to devote considerably more time to the teachings of Isaiah than to the Psalms. Additionally, the Book of Mormon quotes Isaiah 53 directly in Abinadi’s teachings to the priests of Noah, and Abinadi connects that chapter explicitly to the mission of Christ with such forcefulness that LDS readers are strongly encouraged to view it through a Christ-centered lens. Other Book of Mormon prophets either quote directly from Isaiah 53 or appear to be influenced by its view of the suffering Christ. For example, Nephi appears to quote Isaiah 53:6 when he states that “all [have] gone astray” (2 Ne. 28:14). Alma explicitly refers to the text of Isaiah 53:4 when he states that Christ’s suffering happened “that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people” (Alma 7:11). Jacob does not clearly quote Isaiah but seems to echo an Isaianic view of Christ’s sufferings when he says that Christ will suffer “the pains of all men” (2 Ne. 9:21). Other Nephite prophets, such as King Benjamin (quoting the angel in Mosiah 3:7, 9), reflect a similar understanding of and focus on Christ’s suffering as that found in Isaiah 53. In contrast, there appear to be no references to Psalm 22 in the Book of Mormon, although the Book of Mormon view of a suffering Messiah does connect with Psalm 22 just as well as with Isaiah 53, and prophecies regarding Christ’s crucifixion (1 Ne. 19:10; 2 Ne. 10:5; and Mosiah 15:7) and the wounds in his hands and feet (3 Ne. 11:15) connect more closely to Psalm 22 than to Isaiah 53 (see Ps. 22:16). A search at http://scriptures.byu.edu/ indicates that Psalm 22 has been referenced only 13 times in all recorded general conference talks and all speeches included in the Journal of Discourses. By contrast, Isaiah 53 has been referenced 111 times in these sources.

9. Paul Y. Hoskisson, “The Witness for Christ in Psalm 22,” in Covenants, Prophecies, and Hymns of the Old Testament (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2001), 290–301.

10. Claus Westermann, Praise and Lament in the Psalms (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1981), 64–79; Stephen P. Ahearne-Kroll, The Psalms of Lament in Mark’s Passion: Jesus’ Davidic Suffering, Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 2–8; James Limburg, “Book of Psalms,” in Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 531–32. Psalms of lament include Psalms 44, 60, 74, 79, 80, 83, 85, 90, 94, 123, and 137.

11. Writing in the first half of the second century, Justin Martyr (AD 100–ca. 165) offered a verse-by-verse commentary on Psalm 22, showing how it was fulfilled in Christ. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 97–106. Quotations from Justin Martyr in this paper come from Thomas B. Falls, ed., Saint Justin Martyr: The First Apology, The Second Apology, Dialogue with Trypho (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1965).

12. Augustine (AD 354–430) is known as one of the most influential Christian theologians throughout history. Quotations from Augustine in this paper are taken from Augustine, St. Augustine on the Psalms: Psalms 1–29, trans. Scholastica Hebgin and Felicitas Corrigan, 2 vols., Ancient Christian Writers: The Works of the Fathers in Translation vol. 29 (New York: Newman Press, 1960), 1:200–28.

13. See Donald A. D. Thorsen, “Gethsemane,” in Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary, 2:997.

14. Augustine, St. Augustine on the Psalms, 1:214.

15. Augustine, St. Augustine on the Psalms, 1:213.

16. The Greek Septuagint (LXX) was the earliest translation of the Hebrew Bible into any other language. It is so-named because of its miraculous translation, which, according to the story, was accomplished by seventy-two Jewish men (six from each of the twelve tribes) in seventy days. See Lancelot C. L. Brenton, ed., “Introduction,” in The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English (London: Hendrickson, 1999), ii.

17. Brenton, Septuagint with Apocrypha, vi.

18. The wording of this JST addition appears to leave the identity of the father—either Joseph or Heavenly Father—somewhat unclear. This ambiguity is heightened when examining the two extant manuscripts of the JST. While both versions show “father” in this passage with a lowercase letter, in the JST manuscript NT1, scribe Sidney Rigdon also did not capitalize “father” in Christ’s injunction to be perfect as the Father is (Matt. 5:48) or in the Lord’s prayer (Matt. 6:9), both of which were capitalized in the KJV and the 1828 Phinney Bible that Joseph Smith consulted during his translation efforts. For further information about Joseph’s Bible translation, see Kent P. Jackson, “Joseph Smith’s Cooperstown Bible: The Historical Context of the Bible Used in the Joseph Smith Translation,” BYU Studies 40, no. 1 (2001): 41–70. On the other hand, in the JST manuscript NT2, scribe John Whitmer did capitalize the word “father” in Matthew 5:48 and throughout Matthew 6 whenever the text referred to God the Father. A close reading of the Gospels, however, demonstrates that Jesus never referred to Joseph as his father (see Luke 2:48–49). These JST verses, then, can be taken to mean that Jesus served under his true Father and relied upon heavenly training from a very young age, as Psalm 22 illustrates.

19. Brenton, Septuagint with Apocrypha, 203.

20. See Victor H. Matthews, Manners and Customs in the Bible (Peabody, Mass.: Hendricksen, 1991), 73–74.

21. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 98.

22. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 103.

23. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 103.

24. Augustine, St. Augustine on the Psalms, 1:203.

25. See Hoskisson, “Witness for Christ in Psalm 22,” 294.

26. James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981), 668–69, n. 8. For a nuanced medical understanding of Jesus’s death, see W. Reid Litchfield, “The Search for the Physical Cause of Jesus Christ’s Death,” BYU Studies 37, no. 4 (1998): 93–109. Litchfield states that the best explanation for Jesus’s death is cardiac arrhythmia, according to him a figurative equivalent to the “broken heart.”

27. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 103.

28. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 103.

29. Augustine, St. Augustine on the Psalms, 1:203.

30. Hoskisson, “Witness for Christ in Psalm 22,” 295.

31. See Michelle Ellis Taylor, “Dog,” in Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, ed. David Noel Freedman (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2000), 352.

32. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 104; Augustine, St. Augustine on the Psalms, 1:215.

33. See Gregory Vall, “Psalm 22:17B: ‘The Old Guess,’” Journal of Biblical Literature 116, no. 1 (1997): 46–48.

34. Shon Hopkin, “The Psalm 22:16 Controversy: New Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls,” BYU Studies 44, no. 3 (2005): 161–72.

35. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 105.

36. See, for example, Isaiah 42:1–4; 49:1–6; 50:4–9; 52:13–14; 53:1–12, commonly known as the servant songs. See also Psalms 2, 8, 9, 21, 40, 45, 67, 68, 69, 89, 91, 110, 118, and 132.

37. Hoskisson, “Witness for Christ in Psalm 22,” 297.

38. Augustine, St. Augustine on the Psalms, 1:221–22.

39. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, ch. 106.

40. An alternate interpretation of these verses could be that the Psalmist at this point chooses to break away from speaking in the voice of the sufferer (Christ) in order to bear witness among his brethren of God’s goodness and of the sufferer’s eventual triumph. Although this interpretation would negate the ability to see these verses in connection with Christ’s own teaching efforts after his death, and would instead associate them with the witness of God’s prophetic messenger, it would still demonstrate the triumphant message of the psalm to which Christ appears to have been referring when he quoted Psalm 22:1 from the cross. This alternate interpretation does not solve the difficulties of shifting voice and time any better than the explanation given in this paper. One effect of this poetic shifting of voice and time could also be to provide a sense of universality and timelessness to the witness that would be given, so that it cannot be easily attached to any one individual or to any one time.

41. Other LDS scholars have noted the similarities between the final third of Psalm 22 and Christ’s visit to the spirit world, as described in Doctrine and Covenants 138. According to LeGrand L. Baker and Stephen D. Ricks, “The final third of the 22nd Psalm . . . tells that after the Savior left the cross, he descended in triumph into the Underworld. The last third of that psalm takes place ‘in the midst of the congregation’ of the dead—just as in D&C 138. It is remarkable how closely the psalm’s account maps to the concepts found in President Joseph F. Smith’s revelation. Both teach the same things.” LeGrand L. Baker and Stephen Ricks, Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord? The Psalms in Israel’s Temple Worship in the Old Testament and in the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2009), 435–36.

42. All quotations and references to the Gospel of Peter are from Robert J. Miller, ed., The Complete Gospels: Annotated Scholars Version (Sonoma, Calif.: Polebridge Press, 1992), 399–407.

43. For a review of these scholarly views, see Miller, Complete Gospels, 399–401.

44. Gospel of Peter 5:5.

45. Other early Christian authors who referred to the piercing of the hands and feet were Justin Martyr, Tertullian (AD 160–225), and Cyprian (AD 200–258), each writing at early dates, although they used various Latin words such as “pierced,” “exterminated,” “tore,” or “dug” to translate the LXX. See Justin Martyr, The First Apolology, 1.35.5–7; Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 97, 104; Tertullian, Against the Jews 8:17; 10:4, 11; Tertullian, Against Marcion 3:19; Apologetical Works: Tertullian, trans. Rudolph Arbesmann (Washington: Catholic University of America Press, 1962); and Cyprian (AD 200–258), The Treatises of Cyprian 12.2.20, 13.10–11 in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994).

46. Many issues connected to Psalm 22, and especially Psalm 22:1, can be found in the excellent discussion provided in Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah: From Gethsemane to the Grave (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 2:1044–62.

47. Augustine seems to have been the first to mention this concern, speaking to the people of Hippo on March 23, 395. See Augustine, St. Augustine on the Psalms, 1:210.

48. Augustine, St. Augustine on the Psalms, 1:210–11.

49. William Clayton, “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” in Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1985), no. 30.

50. It is possible that Christ actually quoted more of Psalm 22 while on the cross, but that Matthew and Mark recorded only the first line. Considering the misinterpretation of the solitary line by many who were present, however, this possibility seems unlikely. A quotation of a significant portion of the hymn would have been difficult to misconstrue.

51. For a discussion of the scriptural knowledge of Mark’s readers, see Ernest Best, “Mark’s Readers: A Profile,” in The Four Gospels, ed. F. Van Segbroeck (Leuven: Peeters, 1992), 2:839–58. See also Donald Juel, A Master of Surprise: Mark Interpreted (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994), 133–39. Although these scholars are referring to the readers of Mark, rather than those present at the Crucifixion, according to Geza Vermes this statement had likely become an Aramaic proverbial expression of lament that would have been commonly identified with Psalm 22. Donald Juel, Messianic Exegesis: Christological Interpretation of the Old Testament in Early Christianity (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988), 115. Loren Fisher discusses the way in which the first lines of the Psalms acted as titles of the entire Psalm during New Testament times. Loren R. Fisher, “Betrayed by Friends: An Expository Study of Psalm 22,” Interpretation 18 (1964): 22–25.

52. “[This] gives evidence of the widespread influence and fundamental significance of the psalm in the passion tradition. It is difficult to conceive the passion narratives without allusions to Psalm 22. It is as difficult to explain allusions to the psalm as secondary.” Juel, Messianic Exegesis, 116.

53. For examples of scholarly discussion that see Christ’s statement as an allusion to the full text of Psalm 22, see Stephen P. Ahearne-Kroll, The Psalms of Lament in Mark’s Passion: Jesus’ Davidic Suffering, Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 118–48; Stephen P. Ahearne-Kroll, “Challenging the Divine: LXX Psalm 21 in the Passion Narrative of the Gospel of Mark,” in The Trial and Death of Jesus: Essays on the Passion Narrative in Mark, ed. Geert Van Oyen and Tom Shepherd (Leuven: Peeters, 2006), 119–70; Juel, Messianic Exegesis, 114; Beth LaNeel Tanner, The Book of Psalms through the Lens of Intertextuality, ed. Peter Lang, Studies in Biblical Literature, vol. 26 (New York: Studies in Biblical Literature, 2001), 80–82; E. Klostermann, Das Markusevangelium (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1950), 166; Joseph Schmid, The Gospel according to Mark, trans. K. Conden (New York: Mercier Press, 1968), 295–96; and Vincent Taylor, The Gospel according to St. Mark (London: Macmillan, 1952), 593–94.

54. See footnote 50.

55. Adela Yarbro Collins, “The Appropriation of the Psalms of Individual Lament,” in The Scriptures in the Gospels, ed. C. M. Tuckett (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1997), 223–41.

56. Tertullian, Against Marcion 3.19.5. See note 44 above.

57. See J. C. Basset, “Le Psaume 22 (LXX 21) et la croix chez les pères,” Revue d’histoire et de philosophie religieuses 54 (1974): 383–89.

58. See Midrash Tehillim 22:8, 22:1, and 22:17 for examples of these verses being attributed to David, Moses, and all of Israel, respectively.

59. Babylonian Talmud Megillah 15b adds some elements to the biblical story of Esther to emphasize her feelings of forsakenness (connected to Psalm 22:1) just prior to requesting the audience of King Ahaseurus (Esther 5:1–3). Esther’s success with Ahaseurus allows her to live when her death appeared almost certain. That victory over death in turn allowed her to successfully become a savior figure for the Jewish people. Esther’s final victory was prefigured by her quotation of Psalm 22:1, which pointed to the victorious conclusion of Psalm 22. The Babylonian Talmud Yoma 29a also connects Esther with Psalm 22, quoting the inscription that opens that Psalm—“To the chief musician upon Aijeleth Shahar [Heb. ‘hind of dawn’], a Psalm of David”—in order to describe Esther’s glory after the deep challenges of her afflictions. As the passage states, the purpose of the opening inscription is “to tell you that just as the dawn is the end of the whole night, so is the story of Esther the end of all the miracles.” This Talmudic passage again demonstrates that in rabbinic literature the literary allusion to one verse was regularly intended to point to the entire passage as an interpretative lens. Indeed, this is the regular pattern in Jewish synagogue worship services. Midrash Tehillim 22 contains a verse-by-verse commentary on Psalm 22, referring multiple times to events in Esther’s life that coincided with the psalm, including Esther being identified as the psalm’s principle subject. In this commentary, Psalm 22 becomes the prayer of Esther, although it is broken up into numerous different prayers offered at different times of need or of triumph. Interestingly, while Esther is seen as a deliverer or savior figure throughout this commentary, the title “the Hind of Dawn” is also given to God (22:4–5), who saves Israel. While there is no overt connection of God with the suffering portions of the hymn, other Jewish identifications for this title, connected to this psalm, indicate that the triumphant one will bring salvation only after a period of suffering. In a similar vein, another Jewish translator of Psalm 22, Aquila, provided a reading for the Hind of Dawn as “For the Maker of Victory.” Some pieces of Jewish literature could be read as indicating that Psalm 22 was applied by the Jews to a suffering but eventually triumphant Messianic figure. See Pesiqta Rabbati 34–37; Yalqut Shimoni on Psalm 60:1. It is unclear whether this Jewish connection of Psalm 22 with Esther, and the connection of the first verse with the entire storyline, preceded or postdated the Christian passion narratives. Some scholars have asserted that Esther began to be connected with Psalm 22 only in the third to fifth centuries AD, possibly as a response to Christian claims. See, for example, Esther M. Menn, “No Ordinary Lament: Relecture and the Identity of the Distressed in Psalm 22,” Harvard Theological Review 93, no. 4 (2000): 317. Others, however, have posited that Esther was already connected with Psalm 22 during the time of the Second Temple, and that Psalm 22 would have been read during the celebration of Purim, which was originally on the 14th of Nisan. D. Simonsen, “Le Psaume XXII et la Passion de Jesus,” Revue des études Juives 22 (1891): 283–85. The Christians then simply switched from Esther to Christ during their commemoration of the Crucifixion, which was celebrated on the 14th of Adar. Whichever direction the influence tended, however (if one tradition did influence the other), the fact that the Jewish tradition associated the statement in Psalm 22:1 with the entire psalm and connected it to a foundational salvation narrative is a strong supporting argument for a similar understanding in Christian usage.

60. Another example of this practice is demonstrated by Midrash Tehillim 22:1–32, which starts by using the standard synagogue practice called proems. Proems are a method of introducing the scripture narrative to be liturgically read in the synagogue service with a single verse of scripture, usually from the Writings (in the Hebrew scriptures, these are Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Esther, Lamentations, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, Daniel, Ezra, and the Chronicles). That single verse is then followed by commentary that connects directly with the scripture passage to be read that day. The reading for the day does not just connect to the single introductory verse read but typically connects to the broader theme following that verse. Midrash Tehillim 22:1–17 contains a number of these proems, almost all of them introduced by Psalm 22:1. This inclusion of proems in the text likely indicates that Psalm 22 was read in synagogue worship from very early dates. A medieval source from the eleventh century is the earliest source indicating that Psalm 22 was indeed read during the feast of Purim (commemorating Esther’s victory) on the 14th of Adar. Other sources, particularly Ashkenazic documents, clearly state that Psalm 22 was used in this way. Ismar Elbogen, Jewish Liturgy: A Comprehensive History (New York: Jewish Publication Society, 1993), 110.

61. Darrell L. Bock, Who Is Jesus? Linking the Historical Jesus with the Christ of Faith (New York: Howard Books, 2012), 21, 23.

62. Examples of this in the Book of Mormon could include Nephi’s bemoaning of his own weakness (2 Ne. 4), or Corianton’s sin (Alma 39:3).

63. Examples include Peter’s refusal to accept Christ’s prophecy of his crucifixion (Matt. 16:22) or the certainty with which the disciples on the road to Emmaus have abandoned their belief in Jesus as the Messiah (Luke 24:20–21).

64. Bock, Who Is Jesus? 22–23.

65. LDS commentary on Psalm 22 has been so minimal that only verse one requires (or allows) extended discussion.

66. Erastus Snow, in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855–86), 21:26, October 1879.

67. Melvin J. Ballard, quoted in Bryant S. Hinckley, Sermons and Missionary Services of Melvin Joseph Ballard (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1949), 147–57.

68. James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981), 661.

69. Robert D. Hales, “Behold, We Count Them Happy Which Endure,” Ensign 28 (May 1998): 75.

70. Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, 3:206, February 17, 1856.

71. Stephen E. Robinson, Believing Christ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1992), 118–19.

72. Neal A. Maxwell, “Willing to Submit,” Ensign 15 (May 1985): 73.

73. Eliza R. Snow, “Behold the Great Redeemer Die,” in Hymns, no. 191.

74. Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Hands of the Fathers,” Ensign 29 (May 1999): 14.

75. Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1995), 530–32.