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Psalm 44:17
All this has come on us, yet we haven’t forgotten you. We haven’t been false to your covenant.
15All day long my dishonor is before me, and shame covers my face,
16at the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses, because of the enemy and the avenger.
17All this has come on us, yet we haven’t forgotten you. We haven’t been false to your covenant.
18Our heart has not turned back, neither have our steps strayed from your path,
19though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death.
Notice
The word “yet” marks the tension between suffering and faithfulness: these people have endured shame and defeat while insisting they have neither forgotten God nor betrayed his covenant.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What hardship, if any, makes the words “yet we haven’t forgotten you” difficult to say?
Write on thisHow does this claim of covenant faithfulness challenge the way you explain suffering?
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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
Daniel 9:13As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us. Yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, that we should turn from our …Both describe disaster coming upon God’s people, but Daniel confesses unrepented iniquity while Psalm 44 asserts covenant faithfulness.
1 Chronicles 16:15Remember his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations,Chronicles commands remembrance of God’s covenant; Psalm 44 declares that the people have neither forgotten God nor been false to his covenant.
Psalm 9:17The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.Forgetting God marks the nations facing judgment in Psalm 9; the suffering people in Psalm 44 insist they have remembered him.
Deuteronomy 6:12then beware lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.Deuteronomy warns against forgetting the LORD who rescued Israel; Psalm 44 declares that the people have not forgotten him amid suffering.
Deuteronomy 8:14then your heart might be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;Deuteronomy warns that a lifted-up heart may forget God; Psalm 44 speaks from affliction and denies having forgotten him.
Psalm 78:7that they might set their hope in God, and not forget God’s deeds, but keep his commandments,Psalm 78 links remembering God’s deeds with keeping his commands; Psalm 44 joins remembering God with faithfulness to his covenant.
Jeremiah 31:32not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant of …Jeremiah names the covenant Israel broke after the exodus; Psalm 44 records suffering people who deny being false to God’s covenant.
Ezekiel 20:37“I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.Both speak of God’s covenant as a bond with his people: Ezekiel describes entering that bond, while Psalm 44 asserts faithfulness.
Isaiah 17:10For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign …Isaiah charges the people with forgetting the God of their salvation; Psalm 44 contains their insistence that they have not forgotten God.
Psalm 78:57but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were twisted like a deceitful bow.Psalm 78 recounts the people’s treachery; Psalm 44 records a claim that they have remained faithful to God’s covenant.
Ezekiel 16:59“‘For the Lord GOD says: “I will also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.Ezekiel names covenant-breaking as grounds for God’s response; Psalm 44 describes suffering while denying that the people have betrayed the covenant.
Jeremiah 2:32“Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.Jeremiah records God’s charge that his people have forgotten him; Psalm 44 records suffering people declaring that they have remembered him.
Where this verse fits
Feeling distant from God. doubt. injustice and anger.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Suffering does not prove that you have forgotten God. Here, his people speak of their faithfulness while their distress remains unresolved; their covenant claim receives no immediate explanation.
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).