Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
Parallel translations
- WEB Wake up! Why do you sleep, Lord? Arise! Don’t reject us forever.
- BSB Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.
- NKJV Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord? Arise! Do not cast us off forever.
- NASB Wake Yourself up, why do You sleep, Lord? Awake, do not reject us forever.
- NLT Wake up, O Lord! Why do you sleep? Get up! Do not reject us forever.
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
The psalmist boldly cries for God to wake up and not reject His people forever. It matters because it shows faith pressing God to act even when He seems asleep.
Overview
Using vivid, daring language, the prayer urges God to rouse Himself, not implying He literally sleeps but pleading for Him to intervene. Such bold petition rests on confidence in God's covenant love. It anticipates the disciples' cry to the sleeping Jesus in the storm, who arose and stilled the sea, proving God is never truly indifferent to His own.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 78:65Then the LORD awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
- Ps 7:6Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.
- Ps 88:14LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
- Ps 77:7Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?
- Ps 35:23Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
- Ps 74:1O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
- Mark 4:38And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
- Ps 12:5For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
- Isa 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
- Ps 44:9But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
- Ps 59:4–5They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 44:23 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.