22:6 worm. On the cross, the Lord Jesus called himself a “scarlet worm.” This same word refers to the worm from which the Israelites of that day obtained their red dyes and is usually translated “crimson” or “scarlet.” The female worm of this species, when laying her eggs, affixes her body to a wood surface on which she will die after the young are born. The wood, her body, and the young are reddened with the death of the life-giving mother. In a similar image the Lord Jesus made “peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20).