My God, My God! Why Have You Forsaken Me?

"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" — "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" — is the opening line of Psalm 22. Attributed to David and composed around 1000 BC, this psalm was not an obscure text. It was well-known, regularly sung, and deeply cherished. Any observant Jew hearing those words would have immediately recognised them.