Psalm 22:16, “they pierced” or “like a lion”?
Psalm 22:16 is transmitted with they pierced and with like a lion. The difference is a final vav or yod, affecting whether the clause supplies a verb for the hands and feet.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Since revision 3.5, the places where the manuscripts disagree are decided before translation by three readers, Grok 4.3, GPT-6 Astra, and Claude Fable 5.1, who see the readings and the witnesses by age and class but never a reference or a manuscript name. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
“The base text reads כארי. The copies also carry כארו [hebrew manuscript attestation; early hebrew scroll; ancient greek version; latin version]; the committee kept the base text. The early and versional support for כארו is strong, yet the internal evidence favors כארי as the harder reading that best accounts for the rise of כארו.”
“Adopted the lion reading because the surrounding animal imagery requires a nominal parallel rather than the conflicting gloss to dig.”
In apb_v3_5, the committee kept the base text, saying, “The base text reads כארי.” Its note nevertheless says that the early and versional support for כארו is strong. The blind readers had witnesses only by class and date. Their own record states, “Adopted the lion reading because the surrounding animal imagery requires a nominal parallel rather than the conflicting gloss to dig.” The pericope audit verdict was clean.
The argument for each reading
If “they pierced”
Reading A, כארו, has support from the Naḥal Ḥever Psalms scroll, whose 1st century A.D. text ends the word with vav. It also has versional support: the Septuagint, a translation c. 2nd century B.C., reads ὤρυξαν χεῖράς μου καὶ πόδας, presenting a verb with hands and feet as its objects. Jerome's Psalterium iuxta Hebraeos, translated from the Hebrew before him c. A.D. 400, reads fixerunt. These witnesses yield a clause that can be read as they dug or pierced my hands and feet. The APB textual note itself calls the early and versional support for כארו strong.
If “like a lion”
Reading B, כארי, is the reading of the Masoretic Text in the Westminster Leningrad Codex, dated codex A.D. 1008, within a tradition centuries older. In the consonantal verse text, the sequence is כארי ידי ורגלי; its pointed form is כָּאֲרִי. The witness note says that the clause carries no verb, so this reading leaves a compressed phrase, like a lion, my hands and my feet. The committee record treated the surrounding animal imagery as relevant and described a nominal parallel as its reason for adopting this reading. Its APB 3.5 note also identifies כארי as the harder reading in its internal assessment.
The uncertainty is concentrated in one final letter, vav or yod, and in how the resulting phrase relates to hands and feet. The packet supplies evidence for both a verbal reading and a compressed nominal phrase, but does not settle the question by declaration. This variant changes the wording and imagery at Psalm 22:16. It does not by itself decide wider doctrine; most doctrines rest on many passages.
Common questions
What is the textual difference in Psalm 22:16?
The difference is one final letter: כארו ends with vav and is read they dug or pierced; כארי ends with yod and is read like a lion.
Which witnesses support they pierced in Psalm 22:16?
The Naḥal Ḥever Psalms scroll has כארו. The Septuagint reads ὤρυξαν χεῖράς μου καὶ πόδας, and Jerome's Psalterium iuxta Hebraeos reads fixerunt.
Why does like a lion seem incomplete?
The Masoretic Text has כָּאֲרִי and the packet notes that the clause carries no verb. The committee record treated it as a nominal parallel within surrounding animal imagery.
Related entries
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. The page does not declare which reading is original.
The registry gives no verdict
The registry does not say which reading is original. Each page lists the witnesses, shows what the committee did with the same text, and leaves the judgment to the reader.