Read
Psalm 44:19
though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death.
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.
20If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god,
21won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
Notice
The “haunt of jackals” is a place of desolation where people who say they have kept God’s covenant still speak to him as the one who crushed them.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What is hardest for you to hear in the words “you have crushed us”?
Write on thisHow does their claim of covenant faithfulness shape your reading of the “shadow of death”?
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Where else Scripture says this
11 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 23:4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.Both name the shadow of death; Psalm 23 speaks of God’s comfort, while Psalm 44 addresses God as the one who crushed his people.
Matthew 4:16the people who sat in darkness saw a great light; to those who sat in the region and shadow of death, to them light has dawned.”Both describe people under the shadow of death; Matthew speaks of light dawning, while the psalm leaves its people in darkness.
Job 3:5Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes the day black terrify it.The shadow of death conveys dread in both texts, as something that can cover people or claim a day.
Isaiah 34:13Thorns will come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it will be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches.Jackals inhabit places of desolation in both passages, linking the psalm’s crushing with Isaiah’s picture of ruined palaces and fortresses.
Jeremiah 13:16Give glory to the LORD your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you look for light, he turns it into …Both attribute engulfing darkness to God, though Jeremiah gives a warning and the psalm describes suffering already endured.
Job 16:12I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target.Both describe God as the one who has inflicted crushing harm, using the language of bodies broken and dashed apart.
Job 30:29I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.Both place sufferers among jackals, expressing desolation through closeness to these animals.
Jeremiah 14:17“You shall say this word to them: “‘Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with …Both describe a people suffering devastating harm, with crushing in the psalm and a grievous wound in Jeremiah.
Psalm 51:8Let me hear joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice.Both address God as the one who has broken the sufferer; Psalm 51 adds a plea for joy.
Luke 1:79to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace.”Both name the shadow of death as a place people inhabit; Luke speaks of light reaching those within it.
Job 10:22the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight.’”Both use the shadow of death to describe engulfing darkness, with Job adding a land without order.
Where this verse fits
Grief. feeling distant from God. doubt.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
You do not have to invent a reason for suffering to pray. These people speak to God from desolation, and their claim of faithfulness leaves the pain unresolved.
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).