I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”
Parallel translations
- WEB I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
- KJV I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
- NKJV I will say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
- NASB ¶I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
- NLT “O God my rock,” I cry, “why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?”
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
He asks God his Rock why He has forgotten him, mourning under enemy oppression. He brings his honest complaint directly to God.
Overview
Even while trusting God as his 'Rock,' the psalmist voices the felt absence of God. Lament and faith coexist as he addresses his complaint to the Lord. This honest crying out is itself an act of faith that keeps clinging to God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 38:6I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning.
- Ps 43:2For You are the God of my refuge. Why have You rejected me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?
- Ps 18:2The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
- 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”?
- Ps 28:1Of David. To You, O LORD, I call; be not deaf to me, O my Rock. For if You remain silent, I will be like those descending to the Pit.
- Lam 5:1–16Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!
- Ps 62:2He alone is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress; I will never be shaken.
- Ps 44:23–24Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.
- Ps 55:3at the voice of the enemy, at the pressure of the wicked. For they release disaster upon me and revile me in their anger.
- Isa 49:15“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!
- Ps 78:35And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.
- Ps 88:9My eyes grow dim with grief. I call to You daily, O LORD; I spread out my hands to You.
- 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?
- Ps 77:9Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has His anger shut off His compassion?” Selah
- Ps 22:1–2For 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?
- Eccl 4:1Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.
- Job 30:26–31But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness fell.
- Ps 62:6–7He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress; I will not be shaken.
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 42:9 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.