Darling

Darling in the KJV (Psalms 22:20; 35:17) translates the Hebrew word yechidah, meaning only one or sole, referring to the soul as one's unique and irreplaceable life. In Psalm 22:20, the psalmist cries: "Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog" — the parallelism making clear that darling is the poet's life itself, the single precious possession he implores God to rescue. In Psalm 35:17, the same term appears in a petition for rescue from attacking enemies described as lions. Christian interpreters reading Psalm 22 messianically understand these verses as expressing Christ's prayer from the cross for deliverance from death, fulfilled in the resurrection.