Third, Psalm 22:[16].
Third, Psalm 22:[16].
§ 330. (III) Ps. 22:[16]. “There is no Christian who will not read ‘they have pierced My hands and feet.’ The Hebrew texts, however, read 
, ‘as a lion,’ not ‘they have pierced,’ which is said 
.” We respond. (1) Genebrardus, the Papist, in his commentary on this passage, p. 79, does not dare say that this passage was corrupted by the malice of the Jews but only that there is a variant reading because of the similarity of the letters 
and 
. In the same place he also proves with the testimonies of very learned Jews that the best texts had 
; this is also claimed by Andrada (Defens. fid., bk. 4); Joh. Isaacus (Contra Lindan., bk. 2); Galatinus (De arcan. Cath. verit., bk. 1, c. 8; bk. 8, c. 17); Gerhard Veltvyckus (appendix to Sessile tohu); and Pagninus, Vatablus, and Mullerus (in their commentaries on this passage). In fact, the library of our academy has a handwritten Hebrew manuscript that reads 
.
(2) Even if 
had incorrectly been put for 
in some copies either because of the carelessness of scribes or the malice of the Jews, this still would not yet prove that the sources were corrupt, because the true and genuine reading could be restored from approved copies. Also that particular corruption in only some codices would do no harm to our position.
(3) Nor would the letter 
added to the root letter 
stand in the way of this hypothesis about the change of the letter 
into the letter 
, because it originates from the earliest writing of the Jews. Because it is certain that the points were not added in all copies, therefore the Jews generally add one of the letters 
after any long vowel, lest too difficult a reading result. However, no necessity forces us to acknowledge any corruption in this passage, because we can read it 
without any harm to the truth. Yet in explaining this, the experts do differ. [a] Augustinus Nebrissensis (Psalterium quinquelinguum) and Polanus (Syntagm.) translate it “as a lion” and claim an ellipsis of the word 
, “they have pierced,” or of another with a similar sense, because in the Chaldaic version the two are connected: “As a lion, they have pierced My hands and feet,” because ellipses of the sort also occur elsewhere in the Scriptures. [b] Avenarius thinks that the word was composed from 
, “he pierced,” and 
, “lion,” in this sense: “As a lion they pierced,” which he also proves from the Chaldaic translation. [c] Gesnerus thinks it must be read with one little vowel point added, 
, so that it is the plural construct of 
. He explains this as “those who pierce” or “of those who pierce My hands and feet.”
(4) Because not only the Small Masorah in its notes on Ps. 22:[16] but also the Great Masorah at the beginning of letter 
note that 
here has another meaning, as in Isa. 38:13 where it is translated “as a lion.” From this, one concludes that 
was placed here for 
without any corruption and must be translated “they pierced,” just as the Septuagint translators rendered it 
. Jerome has fixerunt [“they fastened or pierced”]; in the Ethiopian and Vulgate, foderunt [“they pierced”].
Therefore in this word a certain grammatical anomaly occurs: 
a was inserted either by epenthesis or from the earliest custom of writing, and 
instead of 
was placed at the end. Those latter are 
or interchangeable with each other, as Avenarius shows with many examples (Gramm., bk. 3, p. 585). Schindlerus confirms this opinion also from the fact that the 
has underneath it a qamets, from which it is obvious that this is not a formative letter but a root letter, for otherwise [if it were the preposition] it would have been a shewa.