Psalms 42 · Verse 9

Psalms 42:9

I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
Psalms 42:9, King James Version

Psalms 42:9 in other translations

BSBI say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”
WEBI will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
ASVI will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
YLTI say to God my rock, ‘Why hast Thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning in the oppression of an enemy?
DARBYI will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
BBEI will say to God my Rock, Why have you let me go from your memory? why do I go in sorrow because of the attacks of my haters?
WebsterI will say to God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

What does Psalms 42:9 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 42:9-10
9-10. in view of which [Psa 42:8], he dictates to himself a prayer based on his distress, aggravated as it was by the cruel taunts and infidel suggestions of his foes.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 9 I will say unto God my rock - God, my Fortress and Support. Why hast thou forgotten me? - This and the following verse is badly pointed in our Bibles: "Why go I mourning as with a sword in my bones because of the oppression of the enemy? Mine enemies reproach me daily, while they say unto me, Where is thy God?" See on Psa 42:3 (note). Their reproaches are to my soul as cutting and severe as a sword thrust into my body, and separating between my bones; because these reproaches are intended to fall on thee, my God, as if thou hadst not power to save us from the hands of our oppressors.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalms 42:6-11

The way to forget our miseries, is to remember the God of our mercies. David saw troubles coming from God's wrath, and that discouraged him. But if one trouble follow hard after another, if all seem to combine for our ruin, let us remember they are all appointed and overruled by the Lord. David regards the Divine favour as the fountain of all the good he looked for. In the Saviour's name let us hope and pray. One…

Read the full comment on Psalms 42:6-11 →

Psalms 42:9 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אוֹמְרָ֤ה\׀'om.RahI will sayH559
לְאֵ֥לle.'Elto GodH410
סַלְעִי֮sal.'Irock myH5553
לָמָ֪הla.Mah<to> why?H4100
שְׁכַ֫חְתָּ֥נִיshe.Khach.Ta.nihave you forgotten meH7911
לָֽמָּה\־la.mah-<to> why?H4100
קֹדֵ֥רko.DermourningH6937
אֵלֵ֗ךְ'e.Lekhdo I walkH1980
בְּלַ֣חַץbe.La.chatzin [the] oppression ofH3906
אוֹיֵֽב\׃'o.Yevan enemyH341

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 42:9

  • Psalms 38:6

    I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.

  • Psalms 18:2

    The 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.

  • Psalms 43:2

    For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

  • Psalms 62:2

    He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.

  • Psalms 28:1

    A Psalm of David. Unto 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.

  • Psalms 44:23-24

    Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?

  • Isaiah 40:27

    Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?

  • Lamentations 5:1-16

    Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. …

  • Isaiah 49:15

    Can 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.

  • Job 30:26-31

    When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. …

  • Psalms 77:9

    Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

  • Ecclesiastes 4:1

    So 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.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
God.
18:2; 28:1; 62:2,6,7; 78:35
Why hast.
13:1; 22:1,2; 44:23,24; 77:9; Isa 40:27; 49:15
why go.
38:6; 43:2; 88:9; Job 30:26-31
because.
55:3; Ec 4:1; La 5:1-16

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Psalms 42:8

    Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

  • Psalms 42:9

    I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

  • Psalms 42:10

    As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

Read all of Psalms 42

Psalms 42:9 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Diré á Dios: Roca mía, ¿por qué te has olvidado de mí? ¿Por qué andaré yo enlutado por la opresión del enemigo?
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		De jour, l’ Éternel commandera à sa bonté; et, de nuit, son cantique sera avec moi, ma prière au ✶Dieu de ma vie.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Sagen will ich zu Gott, meinem Fels: Warum hast du mich vergessen? warum gehe ich trauernd einher wegen der Bedrückung des Feindes?