Lamentations 5:20

20 Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long?

Lamentations 5:20 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?
English Standard Version (ESV)
20 Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days?
New Living Translation (NLT)
20 Why do you continue to forget us? Why have you abandoned us for so long?
The Message Bible (MSG)
20 So why do you keep forgetting us? Why dump us and leave us like this?
American Standard Version (ASV)
20 Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, [And] forsake us so long time?
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
20 Why have you completely forgotten us? Why have you abandoned us for such a long time?
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
20 Why have You forgotten us forever, abandoned us for [our] entire lives?
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
20 Why do you always forget us? Why have you deserted us for so long?

Lamentations 5:20 Meaning and Commentary

Lamentations 5:20

Wherefore dost thou, forget us for ever
Since thou art firm, constant, and unchangeable, and thy love and covenant the same. God seems to forget his people when he afflicts them, or suffers them to be oppressed, and does not arise immediately for their help; which being deferred some time, looks like an eternity to them, or they fear it will ever be so; at least this they say to express their eager desire after his gracious presence, and to show how much they prize it:

[and] forsake us so long time?
or, "to length of days" F4? so long as the seventy years' captivity; which to be forsaken of God, or to seem to be forsaken of him, was with them a long time.


FOOTNOTES:

F4 (Mymy Kral) "in longitudinem dierum", Pagninus, Montanus.

Lamentations 5:20 In-Context

18 for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it.
19 You, LORD, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.
20 Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long?
21 Restore us to yourself, LORD, that we may return; renew our days as of old
22 unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.

Cross References 2

  • 1. S Psalms 13:1; Psalms 44:24
  • 2. S Psalms 71:11
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