Mazmur 137:6

137:6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

and do not give Jerusalem priority

over whatever gives me the most joy. ¹ 

Ratapan 4:4

ד (Dalet)

4:4 The infant’s tongue sticks

to the roof of its mouth due to thirst;

little children beg for bread, ² 

but no one gives them even a morsel. ³ 

Yehezkiel 3:26

3:26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to reprove ⁴  them, for they are a rebellious house.

Yohanes 19:28

Jesus’ Death

19:28 After this Jesus, realizing that by this time ⁵  everything was completed, ⁶  said (in order to fulfill the scripture), ⁷  “I am thirsty!” ⁸ 

[137:6]  ¹ tn Heb “if I do not lift up Jerusalem over the top of my joy.”

[4:4]  ² tn Heb “bread.” The term “bread” might function as a synecdoche of specific (= bread) for general (= food); however, the following parallel line does indeed focus on the act of breaking bread in two.

[4:4]  ³ tn Heb “there is not a divider to them.” The term פָּרַשׂ (paras), Qal active participle ms from פָּרַס (paras, “to divide”) refers to the action of breaking bread in two before giving it to a person to eat (Isa 58:7; Jer 16:7; Lam 4:4). The form פָּרַשׂ (paras) is the alternate spelling of the more common פָּרַס (paras).

[3:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “you will not be to them a reprover.” In Isa 29:21 and Amos 5:10 “a reprover” issued rebuke at the city gate.

[19:28]  ⁵ tn Or “that already.”

[19:28]  ⁶ tn Or “finished,” “accomplished”; Grk “fulfilled.”

[19:28]  ⁷ sn A reference to Ps 69:21 or Ps 22:15.

[19:28]  ⁸ sn In order to fulfill (τελειωθῇ [teleiwqh], a wordplay on the previous statement that everything was completed [τετέλεσται, tetelestai]) the scripture, he said, “I am thirsty.” The scripture referred to is probably Ps 69:21, “They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Also suggested, however, is Ps 22:15, “My tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth, and you [God] lay me in the dust of death.” Ps 22:1 reads “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?,” a statement Jesus makes from the cross in both Matt 27:46 and Mark 15:34. In light of the connection in the Fourth Gospel between thirst and the living water which Jesus offers, it is highly ironic that here Jesus himself, the source of that living water, expresses his thirst. And since 7:39 associates the living water with the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ statement here in 19:28 amounts to an admission that at this point he has been forsaken by God (cf. Ps 22:1, Matt 27:46, and Mark 15:34).