But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!”
Parallel translations
- WEB But Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.”
- KJV But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.
- NKJV But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me.”
- NASB ¶But Zion said, “The Lord has abandoned me, And the Lord has forgotten me.”
- NLT Yet Jerusalem says, “The Lord has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Zion complains that the LORD has forsaken and forgotten her, voicing the despair of God's people in exile.
Overview
In contrast to the song of joy, Zion gives voice to her sense of abandonment. Her lament is honest and sets up God's tender reply in the following verses. Such cries of feeling forsaken are answered not by denial but by God's faithful love, fully displayed when Christ Himself bore forsakenness (Matthew 27:46) so that His people never finally would.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Rom 11:1–5I ask then, did God reject His people? Certainly not! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
- Isa 40:27Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”?
- Lam 5:20Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?
- Ps 31:22In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from Your sight!” But You heard my plea for mercy when I called to You for help.
- Jer 23:39therefore I will surely forget you and will cast you out of My presence, both you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers.
- Ps 89:38–46Now, however, You have spurned and rejected him; You are enraged by Your anointed one.
- Ps 22:1For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Doe of the Dawn.” A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my words of groaning?
- Ps 77:6–9At night I remembered my song; in my heart I mused, and my spirit pondered:
- Ps 13:1For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 49:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.