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Psalm 44:13
You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us.
11You have made us like sheep for food, and have scattered us among the nations.
12You sell your people for nothing, and have gained nothing from their sale.
13You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us.
14You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples.
15All day long my dishonor is before me, and shame covers my face,
Notice
“You make us” directs the complaint toward God, making the neighbors’ mockery a painful question about his dealings with his people.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What is hard for you to say to God in the words “You make us”?
Write on thisWhen have you seen a whole community bear the kind of scorn described here?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 79:4We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those who are around us.Both laments describe God’s people as a reproach to their neighbors, exposed to scoffing and derision from those around them.
Psalm 39:8Deliver me from all my transgressions. Don’t make me the reproach of the foolish.Both prayers address God about becoming a reproach, though Psalm 39 also asks for deliverance from transgressions.
Psalm 80:6You make us a source of contention to our neighbors. Our enemies laugh among themselves.Both prayers tell God that he has made his people an object of hostility among neighbors, where others laugh at them.
Nehemiah 2:17Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let’s build up the wall of …Both passages name a people’s shared disgrace; Nehemiah connects that disgrace with Jerusalem’s ruined wall and burned gates.
Jeremiah 24:9I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all …Both texts describe God making his people a reproach, exposed to contempt from the people around them.
Micah 6:16For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of Ahab’s house. You walk in their counsels, that I may make you a ruin, and your inhabitants a hissing. …Both passages connect public reproach with God’s action; Micah also names the people’s adherence to Omri and Ahab.
1 Samuel 17:26David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is …Reproach falls on God’s people in both texts; David speaks of removing Israel’s reproach through the Philistine’s defeat.
Deuteronomy 28:37You will become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away.Both texts describe public disgrace among surrounding peoples, with God named as the one who brings his people into that condition.
Jeremiah 48:27For wasn’t Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you shake your head.Both passages describe Israel enduring derision from others; Jeremiah names the head-shaking that also appears in Psalm 44’s next verse.
Psalm 89:51With which your enemies have mocked, LORD, with which they have mocked the footsteps of your anointed one.Both prayers bring mockery before God, with Psalm 89 naming the scorn directed at his anointed one.
Ezekiel 36:19–23I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. I judged them according to their way and according to their deeds.The shared thread lies in Psalm 44’s surrounding lament: both passages describe God scattering his people among the nations.
Lamentations 3:14I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long.Both speakers describe becoming an object of derision, though Psalm 44 speaks for a people and Lamentations speaks in the singular.
Where this verse fits
Feeling distant from God. injustice and anger.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The neighbors’ scorn has entered the prayer itself. God’s people speak to him about their disgrace, even while his part in their suffering remains hard to understand.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).