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Psalm 44:20

If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god,

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.
22Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.
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← Psalm 44:19Psalm 44:21 →
Notice

The opening “If” belongs to a plea of faithfulness amid crushing suffering: these people have kept turning toward God, yet remain under threat.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What would you want God to know about your faithfulness in a hardship that has continued?

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What does spreading out your hands to God express when relief has not come?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

9 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 143:6I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah.Both describe outstretched hands in prayer, with Psalm 44 naming a strange god and Psalm 143 addressing God.
Psalm 81:9There shall be no strange god in you, neither shall you worship any foreign god.The strange god named in Psalm 44 is the object of worship forbidden in Psalm 81.
Psalm 9:17The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.Forgetting God is the shared concern: Psalm 44 raises it as a possibility, while Psalm 9 names its judgment.
Psalm 68:31Princes shall come out of Egypt. Ethiopia shall hurry to stretch out her hands to God.Both mention hands extended toward a god; Psalm 68 directs that gesture toward God, while Psalm 44 considers misplaced worship.
Job 11:13“If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him.Both passages use conditional language and describe outstretched hands, with Job’s passage directing the gesture toward God.
Job 31:5–40“If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceitBoth begin a conditional statement about wrongdoing, Psalm 44 concerning forsaking God and Job concerning falsehood and deceit.
Deuteronomy 6:14You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are around you,Psalm 44 considers turning toward a strange god, the kind of allegiance Deuteronomy forbids.
1 Kings 8:22Solomon stood before the LORD’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven;Spreading out hands is the shared gesture: Psalm 44 considers a strange god, while Solomon stands before the LORD’s altar.
Exodus 9:29Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunders shall cease, and there will not be any more …Both mention spreading out hands; Psalm 44 considers prayer to a strange god, while Moses addresses the LORD.
Where this verse fits

Feeling distant from God. doubt. injustice and anger.

What the Bible says about doubt →What the Bible says about doubt →What the Bible says about anger →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Spread out your hands to God in one lament

prayeroncelight
Encouragement

Suffering does not prove that you have forgotten God. Here, people who plead their faithfulness face death and appeal to the God who knows the secrets of the heart.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 44:20. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 44 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

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).