In terms of textual criticism, few verses in the Hebrew Bible have been more hotly contested down through the centuries than Ps 22:17. The uncertainty involves the original reading and the interpretation of the first word of the third colon (v. 17b according to the Masoretic verse division), which in BHS reads: [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] ("like a lion my hands and my feet"). This article will briefly sketch the history of this controversy, survey critical proposals, and defend a long-overlooked nineteenth-century suggestion. I. Historical Sketch
