What Does Psalm 22:13 Mean?
They gape at me with their mouths, a lion tearing and roaring.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.THE KEY
Psalm 22:13 turns hostile speech into the image of a predator: an open mouth that roars and tears.
THE MEANING
When hostility opens against you, the verse names its force as predatory rather than harmless noise. The open mouth, roar, and tearing belong to one image, making the danger feel immediate.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that a threat becomes harmless when it arrives through speech: the verse pictures the speaking mouth with a predator’s force.
THE ROOT
טֹרֵף
ṭōrēph
GROWS FROM
טרף
to tear, seize as prey
English “ravening” can sound like a trait; טֹרֵף (ṭōrēph) is an active tearing predator, one who takes prey. The neighboring roar joins sound to the act of tearing, so the threat is appetite and force, not volume alone.
ALSO GROWS
ṭāraph: to tear or seize as prey
טָרַף
This verb makes the lion’s threat an action: it takes hold and tears.
ṭéreph: prey, or food taken by tearing
טֶרֶף
This noun names what the predator pursues, connecting the lion’s open mouth with consumption.
שֹׁאֵג
šōʾēg
GROWS FROM
שאג
to roar
“roaring” in this verse is šōʾēg. The roar gives the predator an audible presence. The same root names a lion’s roar after prey in Psalm 104:21, where sound and pursuit appear together.
ALSO GROWS
šāʾag: to roar
שָׁאַג
This verb is the root action behind the lion’s sound in the verse.
šeʾāgāh: a roar, a roaring
שְׁאָגָה
This noun carries the same root into the sound itself, keeping the lion’s force present beyond the verb.
פָּצוּ
pāṣû
GROWS FROM
פצה
to open wide, gape
“gape” in this verse is pāṣû. The verb describes a bodily opening: the mouths are not merely speaking but gaping toward the speaker. Set beside the lion’s tearing and roar, this turns speech into an image of exposure and threat.
ALSO GROWS
pāṣāh: to open wide, to gape
פָּצָה
This is the root verb in another form, showing that “gaped” carries the image of a mouth opened wide.
ʾephtseh: I will open wide
אֶפְצֶה
This form appears with “my mouth” in Psalm 66:14, making the physical opening explicit.
THE PATTERN
An open mouth, a roar, and the pursuit of prey make danger visible as a force moving toward consumption.
They open their mouth wide against me; they say, Aha, aha, our eye has seen it.The young lions roar for prey; they seek their food from God.THE THREAD
The young lions roar for prey; they seek their food from God.The same Hebrew roots for roar (שאג, šāʾag) and prey or tearing (טרף, ṭāraph) appear together here: the young lions roar after their prey. That pairing lets Psalm 22’s image register as one predatory act, the roar belongs to the tearing pursuit.
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