I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind. I am like a broken vessel.
Parallel translations
- WEB I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man. I am like broken pottery.
- KJV I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
- NKJV I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.
- NASB I am forgotten like a dead person, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.
- NLT I am ignored as if I were dead, as if I were a broken pot.
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
David feels forgotten like a dead man, useless like broken pottery. It captures the depth of his sense of abandonment.
Overview
Cast out of others' memory, David likens himself to a shattered, discarded vessel. The imagery conveys utter worthlessness in the eyes of those around him. Yet this lament is brought to God, who never forgets His own, and who in Christ restores the broken.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 88:4–5I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man without strength.
- Ps 2:9You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery.”
- Isa 30:14It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar, shattered so that no fragment can be found. Not a shard will be found in the dust large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth or to skim the water from a cistern.”
- Rom 9:21–22Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?
- Ps 119:83Though I am like a wineskin dried up by smoke, I do not forget Your statutes.
- Rev 2:27He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery—just as I have received authority from My Father.
- Isa 38:11–12I said, “I will never again see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living; I will no longer look on mankind with those who dwell in this world.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 31:12 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.