Psalm 22:20
My Only Begotten from the Dog
Wording onlyIn the psalm of the cross, the Sufferer cries out for His only one. Your Bible calls it His darling.
Side by Side
The Older Text
Septuagint, translated before Messiah
Deliver my soul from the sword; my only-begotten one from the power of the dog.
The Later Text
Masoretic, as your KJV translates it
Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. (The Hebrew word means “my only one.”)
Your KJV reads: “my darling,” though its own margin gives “my only one.” Here the Hebrew and the Greek agree; the softer word is the English translators’ choice.
See what changed and why ↓What Your Bible Says
Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
Psalm 22:20 KJV
Psalm 22 is the psalm of the cross. It opens with “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” It tells of the mocking, the pierced hands and feet, the garments divided by lot. In verse 20 the Sufferer asks to be delivered, and the King James calls what He wants delivered “my darling.”
What the Older Text Says
Deliver my soul from the sword; my only-begotten one from the power of the dog.
Psalm 22:20, Septuagint
The Greek translators wrote monogenes, “only-begotten.” It is the word John uses of the Son: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16).
What Changed
Nothing in the Hebrew. The Hebrew word means “only one.” It is the word Yahuah used of Isaac on Moriah: “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac” (Genesis 22:2). The Greek gives that meaning. Your English Bible does not.
“Darling” keeps the tenderness and drops the meaning. An only son offered by his father is the picture of Moriah. A darling is only someone dear.
Which One Is Right?
The Greek Bible, translated before Messiah, reads “only-begotten.”
The Masoretic text has the same Hebrew word, “only one.”
The KJV margin gives “my only one.” So does a Jewish translation of 1917: “mine only one.”
The KJV text alone says “my darling.”
Purpose of the Change
No motive evident: wording variation only. The pair still matters because the Greek, made before Messiah, gave this cry the very word John uses of the Son, and the Hebrew agrees with it.
The Bottom Line
The Hebrew and the Greek both cry out for the only one. Only the English says “darling.”
He was not left to the dog. He was raised, and Revelation opens by naming Him “the first begotten of the dead” (Revelation 1:5).
Dig Deeper The evidence, for anyone who wants it
The Same Cry in Psalm 35
Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.
Psalm 35:17 KJV
The same Hebrew word, the same pairing with “my soul,” and the same Greek rendering: “mine only-begotten one.” The translators before Messiah were consistent.
Begotten Means a Beginning
Some teachers use “only begotten” to argue the Son is Yahuah Himself. The word says the opposite. Isaac was Abraham’s only begotten (Hebrews 11:17), and Isaac had a beginning. A begotten son comes from his father. The psalm opens with the Son calling the Father “My God” (Psalm 22:1).
An Honest Note
The Hebrew letters here were not changed. This page is about translation, not copying. The Hebrew word is feminine, matching “my soul” in the line before, so some read the pair as “my soul … my only life.” That is a fair reading of the grammar. But the Greek translators, before Messiah, gave it the meaning of an only child, and the same Hebrew word names Isaac in Genesis 22:2.