Psalm 22:31
ESV
they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.
NIV
They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!
NASB
They will come and will declare His righteousness To a people who will be born, that He has performed it.
CSB
They will come and declare his righteousness; to a people yet to be born they will declare what he has done.
NLT
His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born. They will hear about everything he has done.
KJV
They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
NKJV
They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, That He has done this.
What does Psalm 22:31 mean?
In this verse David foretells that a generation will proclaim the Lord's righteousness to a people yet unborn. The preceding generation will declare that the Lord has done it; that is, provided salvation. A thousand years after the life of David, the Messiah Jesus died on the cross to provide salvation by shedding His blood for us.Jesus uttered the first words of this psalm from the cross (Psalm 22:1; Matthew 27:46). Christ's final words from the cross were similar to the last words of this same passage: "he has done it." At the moment of death, Jesus cried out, "It is finished" (John 19:30). The Greek word for "it is finished" is tetelestai, which implies something has been completed, paid, fulfilled, or reconciled. In the first century when a painter put the final brush stroke on a canvas and was satisfied with what he saw, he might say "Tetelestai!" His painting was complete. Nothing needed to be added to it. Tetelestai was written on a loan when the last payment was made.
Jesus' declaration of "Tetelestai!" means "nothing needs to be added to what I have done. Paid in full!" Salvation, then, is not a matter of what anyone can do to earn salvation, but a matter of what Jesus has already done.
