¶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?”
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?
- 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?”
- 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 pained and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long.
- Ps 43:2For you are the God of my strength. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
- Ps 18:2Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
- Isa 40:27Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?”
- Ps 28:1By David. To you, Yahweh, I call. My rock, don’t be deaf to me; lest, if you are silent to me, I would become like those who go down into the pit.
- Lam 5:1–16Remember, Yahweh, what has come on us: Look, and see our reproach.
- Ps 62:2He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress — I will never be greatly shaken.
- Ps 44:23–24Wake up! Why do you sleep, Lord? Arise! Don’t reject us forever.
- Ps 55:3Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the oppression of the wicked. For they bring suffering on me. In anger they hold a grudge against me.
- Isa 49:15“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!
- Ps 78:35They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their redeemer.
- Ps 88:9My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, Yahweh. I have spread out my hands to you.
- Ps 13:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
- Ps 77:9Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?” Selah.
- Ps 22:1–2For the Chief Musician; set to “The Doe of the Morning.” A Psalm by David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
- Eccl 4:1Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who 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; When I waited for light, there came darkness.
- Ps 62:6–7He alone is my rock and my salvation, 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.