Many Christian Bibles (KJV, BSB and others) read "they pierced my hands and my feet", with the Septuagint ("they dug") and a first-century Hebrew fragment from the Judean desert, and Christians have long read the psalm in the light of the crucifixion. The standard Hebrew text reads "like a lion"; the line is hard in every form, and the Gospels quote other lines of this psalm but not this one.
The verse
Text
BSBFor dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet.
KJVFor dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
JPSFor dogs have encompassed me; a company of evil-doers have inclosed me; like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet.
MT כָּאֲרִי (kāʾărî, 'like the lion'); Naḥal Ḥever fragment כארו (kʾrw, a verb form?); LXX ὤρυξαν (ōryxan, 'they dug')
In the Masoretic Text the line reads, word for word, "like-the-lion my hands and my feet", with no verb; JPS 1917 supplies one ("like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet"), and Rashi explains it as hands and feet "crushed in a lion’s mouth", comparing Isa 38:13. The Septuagint has ὤρυξαν, "they dug", which the Douay-Rheims keeps ("They have dug") and the KJV tradition turns into "they pierced". A Psalms fragment from Naḥal Ḥever (5/6Ḥev Ps, 1st c. AD), published in Discoveries in the Judaean Desert 38 (2000), reads כארו with a final waw where the MT has a final yod; its editors write that "this important variant ... reading is assured". Hopkin, who argues for "pierced", adds that the Peshitta has "they have pierced" and that the 2nd-century Jewish translators Aquila and Symmachus also used verbs here (Aquila's two editions "they have disfigured" and "they have bound"; Symmachus "like those who seek to bind"). So a verb reading existed in Hebrew before the Jewish–Christian disputes; it is not a Christian invention. But the case is not closed. The verb for "dig" is כרה (kārâ), whose plural is כָּרוּ without an aleph, so כארו is itself an odd spelling; a Jewish counter-missionary writer (Kravitz, Jews for Judaism) argues that this scribe also writes yod like waw elsewhere in the psalm, and Swenson (2004) judged the fragment nearly illegible (Hopkin disputes this). Modern translations divide: NRSV "My hands and feet have shrivelled" with the note "Meaning of Heb uncertain"; JPS 2023 "like lions [they maul] my hands and feet"; BSB and WEB keep "pierced" and footnote the Masoretic reading. The NAB family itself differs: the NAB's revised Psalter (1991) has "So wasted are my hands and feet", while the current NABRE (2011) has "They have pierced my hands and my feet". The Gospels quote other lines of this psalm (22:1 in Matt 27:46 and Mark 15:34; 22:18 in John 19:24) but never this one. The Christian reading of 22:16 as a crucifixion prophecy is first attested in the second century (Justin Martyr, about AD 155, applies it "to the nails of the cross"), on the basis of the Greek; it is not a New Testament citation.123456789101112131415
Checked in this site's verse database: The plural of kārâ ('dig') elsewhere↩How this was derivedSELECT std_ref, surface, morph FROM tokens WHERE strongs LIKE '%{H3738%' → Qal perfect 3rd plural כָּרוּ at Ps.57.6 (Hebrew 57:7), Ps.119.85, Jer.18.20, Jer.18.22 (and with suffix Num.21.18): none has an aleph.
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Checked in this site's verse database: Native numbering of Psalm 22:16↩How this was derivedverses: std_ref='Ps.22.16' → wlc and jps1917 native Ps.22.17; brenton, drc, lxx-brenton-gr native Ps.21.17.
Kristin M. Swenson, “Psalm 22:17: Circling around the Problem Again” (2004), Journal of Biblical Literature 123/4, 640–41 n. 12 — Not read directly; quoted by Hopkin: 'the facsimile reveals a badly faded text that is nearly impossible to read.'↩
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, New American Bible (revised Psalms, 1991), Psalm 22, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (1991) — Ps 22:17 'So wasted are my hands and feet'. This is the 1991 revised Psalter's wording, not the 1970 Psalms'.↩
Rashi, Rashi on Psalms 22:17 (tr. A. J. Rosenberg, Judaica Press) — 'like a lion, my hands and feet As though they are crushed in a lion’s mouth, and so did Hezekiah say (in Isa. 38:13): “like a lion, so it would break all my bones.”'
David Kimhi (Radak), Commentary on Psalms 22:17 (tr. R. G. Finch, 1919) — Reads 'have encircled me like a lion my hands and my feet' as the lion's circle from which prey cannot escape, applied to Israel in exile.
Shon D. Hopkin, “The Psalm 22:16 Controversy: New Evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls” (2005), BYU Studies 44.3, pp. 161–172 — Quotes DJD 38:160–61 (n. 37): 'with waw (v) and yod (y) clearly distinguishable in this hand . . . this important variant [כארו] reading is assured' (the Hebrew is in a font that did not survive PDF extraction). Hopkin dates the relevant scrolls 'to the middle of the first century ad' and calls the piece '5/6 Ḥev–Sev4Ps Fragment 11' (his n. 39 explains it was found by Bedouin and also catalogued as XḤev/Se 4). Also: 'the less-well-attested [כארו] appears as a variant reading in the Masoretic notes' (citing BHS p. 1104), the Peshitta 'they have pierced', Aquila and Symmachus, and 'although the Christian Fathers relied heavily on Psalm 22:16, it was never quoted in the New Testament.' Hopkin argues for 'pierced' and writes from a Latter-day Saint perspective. Read via https://archive.bookofmormoncentral.org/sites/default/files/archive-files/pdf/hopkin/2022-02-07/shon_d._hopkin_byus_44.3_the_psalm_22.16_controversy_2005_161-172.pdf
Kristin M. Swenson, “Psalm 22:17: Circling around the Problem Again” (2004), Journal of Biblical Literature 123/4, 640–41 n. 12 — Not read directly; quoted by Hopkin: 'the facsimile reveals a badly faded text that is nearly impossible to read.'
Bentzion Kravitz, “The Truth About Psalms 22:17”, Jews for Judaism — The Jewish counter-case: 'the word for “dig” ( כָּרוּ ) appears in Psalms 57:7, 119:85, and Jeremiah 18:20 & 22, it never contains an aleph (א)'; 'Dead Sea Scrolls scribes often wrote a yud (י) in a way that made it look like a vav (ו).' and other words 'in the same Psalm 22 parchment, which unequivocally have a yud written as a vav'. Undated web article. An advocacy source, like Hopkin on the other side.
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, New American Bible (revised Psalms, 1991), Psalm 22, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (1991) — Ps 22:17 'So wasted are my hands and feet'. This is the 1991 revised Psalter's wording, not the 1970 Psalms'.
“New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011), Psalm 22”, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops — Ps 22:17 'Dogs surround me; a pack of evildoers closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and my feet'.
Justin Martyr, First Apology 35 (ANF vol. 1) — 'And the expression, They pierced my hands and my feet, was used in reference to the nails of the cross which were fixed in His hands and feet.'
“The JPS Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition (2023), Psalms 22:17”, Sefaria — 'like lions [they maul] my hands and feet', with the note 'With Rashi; cf. Isa. 38.13.'
24So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it. Instead, let us cast lots to see who will get it.” This was to fulfill the Scripture: “They divided My garments among them, and cast lots for My clothing.” So that is what the soldiers did.