I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
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?”
- BSB I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”
- 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 troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
- Ps 43:2For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
- Ps 18:2The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
- Isa 40:27Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
- Ps 28:1Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
- Lam 5:1–16Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach.
- Ps 62:2He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.
- Ps 44:23–24Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
- Ps 55:3Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.
- Isa 49:15Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
- Ps 78:35And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.
- Ps 88:9Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
- Ps 13:1How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
- Ps 77:9Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.
- Ps 22:1–2My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
- Eccl 4:1So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
- Job 30:26–31When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
- Ps 62:6–7He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.
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.