Limitless Word
Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
Psalms 44:22 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.
  • KJV Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
  • NKJV Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
  • NASB But for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
  • NLT But for your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.

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

It is for God's sake that they are killed all day long, regarded as sheep for slaughter. It matters because it names their suffering as endured for God, not for sin.

Overview

This climactic verse declares their affliction is suffered on God's account. Paul quotes it in Romans 8 to describe the suffering of Christians, immediately affirming that in all these things we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. Thus the church's hardship is taken up into the assurance of God's inseparable love in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 13

  • Rom 8:36As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
  • Isa 53:7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.
  • Ps 44:11You have given us up as sheep to be devoured; You have scattered us among the nations.
  • John 15:21But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me.
  • John 16:2–3They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
  • 1 Cor 4:9For it seems to me that God has displayed us apostles at the end of the procession, like prisoners appointed for death. We have become a spectacle to the whole world, to angels as well as to men.
  • 1 Cor 15:30–31And why do we endanger ourselves every hour?
  • Matt 5:10–12Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
  • 1 Kgs 19:10“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”
  • 1 Sam 22:17–19Then the king ordered the guards at his side, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too sided with David. For they knew he was fleeing, but they did not tell me.” But the king’s servants would not lift a hand to strike the priests of the LORD.
  • Rev 11:3–9And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
  • Ps 79:2–3They have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth.
  • Rev 17:6I could see that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and witnesses for Jesus. And I was utterly amazed at the sight of her.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 44:22YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 44:22 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.