But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people. All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying, “He trusts in Yahweh; let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, since he delights in him.”
⛓ Read Psalm 22 forward — the whole chapter and its afterlife →Where this passage surfaces again, sorted by the strength of the link. Each kind of reuse — formal quotation, deliberate allusion, faint echo, figural pattern — carries its own mark. Follow any reference to read it in place.
Quotation1
A formal citation — high verbal volume, often introduced by a saying-formula.
The rulers scoff 'He saved others; let him save himself, if this is the Christ' — a close rendering of Psalm 22:8, 'He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him,' framed by 22:7's mocking head-shakers. Volume and recurrence (Luke's sustained Ps 22 use) make this high.
High confidenceAllusion2
A deliberate verbal borrowing without a citation formula.
The mock-coronation — purple robe, thorn-crown, the sarcastic 'Hail, King of the Jews,' and homage — enacts the psalmist who is 'scorned by men and despised by the people,' mocked by all who see him. Psalm 22 is the controlling passion psalm in Mark 15, and the derisive royal homage coheres tightly with its portrait of the righteous sufferer made an object of contempt.
High confidenceThe mockery of the crowned 'king' echoes the scorned righteous sufferer who is a reproach and despised, mocked by onlookers. Recurrence is high since John quotes Psalm 22:18 later in the chapter, raising the availability and coherence of the whole psalm.
Medium confidenceEcho1
A fainter, low-volume reuse, carried by recurrence or thematic coherence.
The motif of the righteous one despised and rejected ('a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind') feeds the suffering-Son-of-Man pattern; Mark draws heavily on Psalm 22 for the passion (15:34, 15:24), so its presence behind the first prediction is coherent and recurrent.
Medium confidence