Lamentations 5:20 meaning summary explained with word-by-word analysis enriched with context, commentary and Cross References from KJV, NIV, ESV and NLT.
Lamentations 5:20 kjv
Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?
Lamentations 5:20 nkjv
Why do You forget us forever, And forsake us for so long a time?
Lamentations 5:20 niv
Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long?
Lamentations 5:20 esv
Why do you forget us forever, why do you forsake us for so many days?
Lamentations 5:20 nlt
Why do you continue to forget us?
Why have you abandoned us for so long?
Lamentations 5 20 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Ps 13:1 | How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? | Personal plea against perceived divine forgetfulness |
| Ps 44:24 | Why do You hide Your face? Why do You forget our affliction? | Corporate lament of God's hiddenness and neglect |
| Ps 74:1 | O God, why have You cast us off forever? | Questioning God's permanent rejection |
| Ps 77:7-9 | "Will the Lord cast off forever? Will He be favorable no more?" | Questioning God's enduring anger |
| Is 49:15 | "Can a woman forget her nursing child... Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you." | God's unforgetting, unwavering covenant love |
| Dt 4:31 | "For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant." | God's promise not to forsake His covenant |
| Heb 13:5 | "...I will never leave you nor forsake you." | NT assurance of God's constant presence |
| Ps 10:1 | Why do You stand afar off, O LORD? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble? | Questioning God's perceived absence and distance |
| Ps 22:1 | My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? | Cry of ultimate abandonment and suffering (Christ) |
| Ps 90:13 | Return, O LORD! How long? Have compassion on Your servants. | Plea for an end to long-suffering |
| Hab 1:2 | How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but You do not listen? | Prophetic lament over delayed justice |
| Jer 2:32 | Can a virgin forget her ornaments...? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number. | God contrasts His people forgetting Him |
| Ps 89:46-47 | How long, LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever...? Remember how short my time is... | Plea based on human frailty and desire for remembrance |
| Is 54:7-8 | "For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you." | Promise of brief abandonment followed by restoration |
| Jer 31:3 | "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you." | God's eternal love contrasted with temporary trials |
| Zec 1:3 | "Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Return to Me...and I will return to you..."" | Call to repentance for divine return |
| Rom 11:1-2 | I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! God has not cast away His people... | NT affirmation of God's faithfulness to Israel |
| 1 Pet 5:7 | casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. | Reminder of God's current care |
| Phil 4:6 | Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving... | Call to prayer amidst distress |
| Neh 1:8-9 | "Remember the word... 'if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you... But if you return... I will gather them..." | Prayer of remembering God's covenant warnings and promises |
Lamentations 5 verses
Lamentations 5 20 meaning
Lamentations 5:20 expresses the profound distress of the exiled community, wrestling with God's perceived abandonment and prolonged inaction amidst their suffering. It is a direct, anguished plea to Yahweh, questioning why He seems to have forgotten His people and their covenant relationship for what feels like an endless duration. This rhetorical question highlights their desperate longing for God to remember them, resume His active care, and bring an end to their calamity.
Lamentations 5 20 Context
Lamentations 5:20 concludes a profound communal prayer offered by the survivors of Jerusalem's destruction. The entire chapter serves as a direct address to God, recounting in vivid detail the immense suffering and humiliation experienced after the Babylonian conquest in 586/587 BC. It enumerates lost privileges, physical hardships, starvation, social degradation, and the general feeling of being a "reproach among the nations" (Lam 5:1). This prayer acknowledges national sin (Lam 5:16), yet appeals to God's eternal nature (Lam 5:19) as a basis for restoration. The verse acts as a desperate summary question, framing the preceding grievances and setting up the tension between God's enduring rule and Israel's prolonged desolation. It reflects the people's wrestling with faith in the midst of extreme adversity, querying God's timing and apparent disengagement.
Lamentations 5 20 Word analysis
- Why (לָמָּה, lammah): This interrogative adverb is not simply a request for information but a profound expression of lament, bewilderment, and intense pain. It challenges God's seeming inaction and calls for an explanation or intervention. In biblical literature, "why" questions often reveal a crisis of faith or an urgent plea for God to act according to His character.
- do you forget (תִּשְׁכָּחֵנוּ, tishkachenu): From the root שָׁכַח (shakhach), meaning "to forget, ignore, abandon." When applied to God, "forgetting" does not imply a lapse in divine memory (as God is omniscient), but rather a withdrawal of His active remembrance, attention, or covenantal commitment. It means to neglect or cease to act on behalf of. The suffix "-enu" ("us") underscores the personal, collective nature of the plea from Israel to their covenant God.
- us: Refers to the collective people of Judah, the survivors of the catastrophe. They see themselves as God's chosen people, whose unique relationship should warrant His active intervention.
- forever (לָנֶצַח, lanetsach): This emphatic term indicates a seemingly permanent and unending duration. It expresses the depth of their despair and fear that their present suffering might be without end. While perhaps hyperbolic in their anguish, it conveys a profound theological struggle with God's perceived slowness to act and His eternal covenant promises.
- and forsake (תַּעַזְבֵנוּ, ta'azvenu): From the root עָזַב (azav), meaning "to leave, abandon, desert, neglect." This verb runs parallel to "forget," intensifying the sense of divine abandonment. It signifies God's withdrawal of protective presence, His active care, and His intimate covenant relationship. It suggests a perceived removal of God's hand from their lives and nation.
- us: Reiterates the collective identity and vulnerability of the people.
- so long a time (לְאֹרֶךְ יָמִים, le'orekh yamim): Literally "for length of days." This phrase emphasizes the prolonged nature of their tribulation. While "forever" speaks to their despair of permanence, "so long a time" grounds it in their lived experience of extended suffering and delay, expressing a plea for an end to the protracted period of perceived divine absence.
Lamentations 5 20 Bonus section
- Liturgical Significance: Lamentations 5, particularly this poignant verse, plays a significant role in Jewish liturgical practice. It is recited on Tisha B'Av, an annual fast day commemorating the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, serving as a raw expression of collective sorrow, national memory, and hope for future restoration.
- Anthropomorphism: The verbs "forget" and "forsake" are anthropomorphic, attributing human actions to God. They vividly convey the human experience of feeling neglected and abandoned, allowing the sufferers to articulate their pain in relational terms, without implying a literal cognitive or volitional defect in God Himself. God, by definition, cannot forget, but He can, in human perception, withdraw His active involvement.
- Implicit Hope: Despite the despair conveyed, the very nature of this lament as a prayer directed to God implies an underlying hope. The community is still speaking to Yahweh, acknowledging His existence and sovereignty. They appeal to His eternal character, implicitly believing that He retains the power to reverse their fortunes and respond to their cry. Their questioning is a desperate invitation for God to remember His covenant.
Lamentations 5 20 Commentary
Lamentations 5:20 is the culminating, desperate cry of a nation in utter ruin, serving as a profound expression of communal theological struggle. It is not an accusation that God is cognitively deficient or literally forgotten His people. Instead, it is a rhetorical challenge to God's apparent inaction in light of His covenantal character and promises. The core tension lies between God's eternal, unwavering nature (Lam 5:19) and the temporary, agonizing experience of His people feeling eternally forsaken.
The dual questions of "why do you forget?" and "why do you forsake?" are the heart of biblical lament. They give voice to genuine human anguish, uncertainty, and a desperate plea for God to remember and to restore. The hyperbole of "forever" reflects the extreme despair felt when prolonged suffering pushes hope to its limits. Yet, the very act of directing this lament to God implies a fundamental, albeit strained, faith that He still exists, He still hears, and He still has the power to change their circumstances. This verse underscores the legitimate space for expressing profound doubt and pain within a trusting relationship with God, believing that even in perceived absence, He remains sovereign.