Psalm 22:24

Psalm 22:24, in plain English

Here's why you should praise God: because he actually cares about people who are suffering and broken—he doesn't turn away from their pain, he listens to them.

Why it's here

This verse is the theological foundation for everything that comes before it. The reason the psalmist can call out to God in verse 1, and the reason we should all praise God, is this: God is not indifferent to human suffering. He doesn't look away when someone is tormented or afflicted. He 'attends to' their cry—the phrase means he leans in, he listens carefully, he acts on what he hears. This would have been profoundly comforting to people who felt abandoned.

Who's speaking

The psalmist, explaining the character of God.

Where it sits in the story

This is the heartbeat of the gospel—that God sees suffering and doesn't ignore it. Jesus embodied this completely. He came near to people in pain. He didn't lecture from a distance; he healed, he wept, he suffered alongside. This verse says that's who God has always been.

The scholarly reading

God's vindication of the afflicted sufferer demonstrates that the divine character includes profound compassion—God neither scorns the tormented nor withdraws his attention from those who cry out.

Language and setting

The theological statement here directly contradicts the sufferer's earlier anguish ('My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?'). The negation of contempt (לֹא בָזָה, *lo bāzā*)—meaning God has not treated the sufferer with the scorn reserved for the contemptible—addresses the psychological devastation of abandonment. The phrase 'not hidden His face' (לֹא הִסְתִּיר פָּנָיו, *lo histír pānāw*) employs a metaphor fundamental to Hebrew theology: divine presence as the sustaining ground of existence. Hermetically sealed interpretations from figures like John Chrysostom emphasize that God's *attending* (*šāmaʿ*, שָׁמַע—literally hearing, but implying responsive action) constitutes the essential movement from abandonment to vindication.

Voice

A voice of theological affirmation—whether the restored sufferer reflecting on divine character, or a wisdom teacher drawing universal theological conclusions from this particular case.

Significance

This verse articulates the central christological claim that medieval and Reformation commentators found definitive: Christ's passion, which seemed to represent divine abandonment, was paradoxically the moment of God's most intimate attention. The movement from verses 1-21 (abandonment) to verse 24 (attentiveness) demonstrates that God's hiddenness in suffering conceals rather than negates divine presence. This establishes the theological framework for understanding redemptive suffering throughout Scripture.

22I will proclaim Your name to my brothers; I will praise You in the assembly.

23You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All descendants of Jacob, honor Him! All offspring of Israel, revere Him!

24For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. He has not hidden His face from him, but has attended to his cry for help.

25My praise for You resounds in the great assembly; I will fulfill my vows before those who fear You.

26The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the LORD will praise Him. May your hearts live forever!

Read all of Psalm 22 — Begins with a cry Jesus echoes on the cross. The anguish is real — but so is the turn toward praise that comes at the end.