Psalm 22:31

Psalm 22:31, in plain English

The last generation will proclaim to people not yet born what God's righteousness is like, telling them the full story of everything he's accomplished.

Why it's here

This is the final image of the psalm—a chain of testimony extending into the future, toward people who haven't even been born yet. The righteousness of God—his justice, his faithfulness, his commitment to setting things right—that's what will be proclaimed. And not just proclaimed vaguely, but with specifics: 'all that he has done.' The concrete actions of God, his real works in history.

Who's speaking

The psalmist, envisioning an endless chain of testimony into the future.

Where it sits in the story

You are part of this chain. Someone told you about Jesus, about what God has done. Now you're responsible to tell the next person, the generation coming after you. Psalm 22 started with one person's cry of anguish and ends with a vision of all history proclaiming God's faithfulness. That's the trajectory Scripture wants you to live into.

The scholarly reading

The final word assures that generations yet unborn will receive the declaration of God's righteousness and mighty acts, establishing that vindication reverberates through time itself.

Language and setting

The phrase 'people yet unborn' (לְעַם נוֹלַד, *lĕ-ʿam nôlad*) employs prophetic perfect tense convention, speaking of the future as if it were realized. The parallelism between 'proclaim His righteousness' (*ṣidqātô*, צִדְקָתוֹ—his vindication, justice, covenantal fidelity) and 'all that He has done' (*ʾet kol-ʾašer ʿāśāh*, אֶת כָּל־אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה) demonstrates that divine righteousness is fundamentally revealed through actions, not abstract propositions. The construct 'His righteousness' specifically invokes *ṣĕdāqāh* in the prophetic sense—not merely justice as abstract principle, but God's active commitment to redeeming his people according to covenant.

Voice

The psalmist, articulating the ultimate vision wherein testimony transcends temporal limitation, addressing all future creation.

Significance

Psalm 22 concludes not with individual vindication but with cosmic and temporal vindication. What began in verse 1 as the cry of abandonment is resolved not through private restoration but through establishment of a permanent witness that will echo through all generations and all peoples. For Christian interpretation—definitively established through Hebrews 2:12's explicit citation of verses 22 and implicitly throughout the New Testament—this represents Christ's vindication as the foundational narrative of all subsequent Christian proclamation. Every generation inherits the responsibility to declare what God has accomplished, making each moment of faith a participation in the cosmic vindication initiated through this suffering just one.

29All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before Him— even those unable to preserve their lives.

30Posterity will serve Him; they will declare the Lord to a new generation.

31They will come and proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn— all that He has done.

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.