I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

PSALMS 22:14KJV
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Psalms 22:14 (KJV)

What does Psalms 22:14 mean?

Psalms 22:14 describes a speaker who feels utterly drained and unable to hold himself together. He uses images of water, dislocated bones, and melting wax to express distress that reaches through his whole body.

The speaker addresses God in a cry for help. After describing enemies surrounding him in verse 13, he turns to the effect of his ordeal on himself. The melting heart pictures the loss of inner strength and courage.

The Hebrew behind Psalms 22:14

  • “out of joint” — פָּרַד (parad): The word carries the sense of being separated or pulled apart. It gives a picture of the speaker’s bones coming apart from one another.
  • “bowels” — מֵעֶה (meʿeh): The word refers to the inward parts of the body. In the KJV’s older English, “in the midst of my bowels” places the melting heart deep inside the speaker.

Why Psalms 22:14 matters

  • The verse uses vivid comparisons to communicate the speaker’s condition. “Like water” and “like wax” give the reader pictures of a person losing strength, rather than a medical report.
  • The speaker’s suffering is connected to the danger around him. The images in verse 14 follow the threat of enemies in verse 13 and lead into his description of thirst in verse 15.

Where else these words appear

“wax” Hebrew H1749 · used in 4 verses

  • Psalms 68:2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
  • Psalms 97:5 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
  • Micah 1:4 And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.

“melted” Hebrew H4549 · used in 20 verses

  • Exodus 16:21 And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.
  • Judges 15:14 And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.
  • Isaiah 10:18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth.

“joint” Hebrew H6504 · used in 26 verses

  • Genesis 2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
  • Deuteronomy 32:8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
  • Job 41:17 They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.

“bowels” Hebrew H4578 · used in 30 verses

  • Genesis 15:4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
  • 2 Chronicles 21:19 And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.
  • Isaiah 49:1 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.