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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Psalms 31:12

Everyone has forgotten me, as though I were dead; I am like something thrown away.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Dead, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Fausset Bible Dictionary - Joseph;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - English Versions;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Heart;   Jonah;   Psalms;   Sin;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Psalms the book of;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Broken;   Vessel;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Mind;   Potter;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I am forgotten: gone from memorylike a dead person—like broken pottery.
Hebrew Names Version
I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man. I am like broken pottery.
King James Version
I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
English Standard Version
I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
New Century Version
I am like a piece of a broken pot. I am forgotten as if I were dead.
New English Translation
I am forgotten, like a dead man no one thinks about; I am regarded as worthless, like a broken jar.
Amplified Bible
I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.
New American Standard Bible
I am forgotten like a dead person, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.
World English Bible
I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man. I am like broken pottery.
Geneva Bible (1587)
I am forgotten, as a dead man out of minde: I am like a broken vessell.
Legacy Standard Bible
I am forgotten like a dead man—out of mind—I am like a broken vessel.
Berean Standard Bible
I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind. I am like a broken vessel.
Contemporary English Version
I am completely forgotten like someone dead. I am merely a broken dish.
Complete Jewish Bible
I am scorned by all my adversaries, and even more by my neighbors; even to acquaintances I am an object of fear — when they see me in the street, they turn away from me.
Darby Translation
I am forgotten in [their] heart as a dead man; I am become like a broken vessel.
Easy-to-Read Version
People want to forget me like someone already dead, thrown away like a broken dish.
George Lamsa Translation
I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind; I am like something given up for lost.
Lexham English Bible
I have become forgotten like one dead, out of mind. I am like a destroyed vessel.
Literal Translation
I am forgotten like one dead from the heart; I am like a perishing vessel.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
My stregth fayleth me because of my aduersite, and my bones are corrupte.
American Standard Version
I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
Bible in Basic English
I have gone from men's minds and memory like a dead man; I am like a broken vessel.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Because of all mine adversaries I am become a reproach, yea, unto my neighbours exceedingly, and a dread to mine acquaintance;
King James Version (1611)
I am forgotten as a dead man out of minde: I am like a broken vessell.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
I became cleane forgotten as a dead man out of minde: I became like a broken vessell.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I have been forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am become as a broken vessel.
English Revised Version
I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
as a deed man fro herte. I am maad as a lorun vessel;
Update Bible Version
I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
Webster's Bible Translation
I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
New King James Version
I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.
New Living Translation
I am ignored as if I were dead, as if I were a broken pot.
New Life Bible
I am forgotten like a dead man and they do not think about me. I am like a broken pot.
New Revised Standard
I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I have been forgotten, like one dead - out of mind, I have been as a missing vessel.
Douay-Rheims Bible
(30-13) I am forgotten as one dead from the heart. I am become as a vessel that is destroyed.
Revised Standard Version
I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
Young's Literal Translation
I have been forgotten as dead out of mind, I have been as a perishing vessel.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
I am forgotten as a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.

Contextual Overview

9 Be merciful to me, Lord , for I am in trouble; my eyes are tired from so much crying; I am completely worn out. 10 I am exhausted by sorrow, and weeping has shortened my life. I am weak from all my troubles; even my bones are wasting away. 11 All my enemies, and especially my neighbors, treat me with contempt. Those who know me are afraid of me; when they see me in the street, they run away. 12 Everyone has forgotten me, as though I were dead; I am like something thrown away. 13 I hear many enemies whispering; terror is all around me. They are making plans against me, plotting to kill me. 14 But my trust is in you, O Lord ; you are my God. 15 I am always in your care; save me from my enemies, from those who persecute me. 16 Look on your servant with kindness; save me in your constant love. 17 I call to you, Lord ; don't let me be disgraced. May the wicked be disgraced; may they go silently down to the world of the dead. 18 Silence those liars— all the proud and arrogant who speak with contempt about the righteous.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

forgotten: Psalms 88:4, Psalms 88:5, Isaiah 38:11, Isaiah 38:12

a broken vessel: Heb. a vessel that perisheth, Psalms 2:9, Psalms 119:83, Isaiah 30:14, Romans 9:21, Romans 9:22, Revelation 2:27

Reciprocal: Genesis 40:23 - but forgat him Psalms 88:12 - in the land Psalms 143:3 - made me Ecclesiastes 8:10 - they were Jeremiah 22:28 - a despised

Cross-References

Genesis 31:37
Now that you have searched through all my belongings, what household article have you found that belongs to you? Put it out here where your men and mine can see it, and let them decide which one of us is right.
Genesis 31:42
If the God of my fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac, had not been with me, you would have already sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my trouble and the work I have done, and last night he gave his judgment."
Genesis 31:43
Laban answered Jacob, "These young women are my daughters; their children belong to me, and these flocks are mine. In fact, everything you see here belongs to me. But since I can do nothing to keep my daughters and their children,
Exodus 3:7
Then the Lord said, "I have seen how cruelly my people are being treated in Egypt; I have heard them cry out to be rescued from their slave drivers. I know all about their sufferings,
Exodus 3:9
I have indeed heard the cry of my people, and I see how the Egyptians are oppressing them.
Leviticus 19:13
"Do not rob or take advantage of anyone. Do not hold back the wages of someone you have hired, not even for one night.
Deuteronomy 24:15
Each day before sunset pay them for that day's work; they need the money and have counted on getting it. If you do not pay them, they will cry out against you to the Lord , and you will be guilty of sin.
Psalms 12:5
"But now I will come," says the Lord , "because the needy are oppressed and the persecuted groan in pain. I will give them the security they long for."
Psalms 139:3
You see me, whether I am working or resting; you know all my actions.
Ecclesiastes 5:8
Don't be surprised when you see that the government oppresses the poor and denies them justice and their rights. Every official is protected by someone higher, and both are protected by still higher officials.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind,.... Either by his friends, being out of sight, out of mind; as even the nearest relations and acquaintance are, in process of time, when dead, Ecclesiastes 9:5; or by the Lord; which shows the weakness of his faith, the uncomfortable frame he was in, through darkness and desertion; see Psalms 88:5;

I am like a broken vessel; or a "perishing vessel" c; or "a vessel of perdition" d: the Septuagint version renders it "a lost vessel" e; one entirely useless, wholly lost, and irrecoverably so; like a broken vessel, which can never be put together again, Isaiah 30:14; a most sad apprehension he had of himself, as if his case was desperate, and he a vessel of wrath; compare with this, Romans 9:22.

c ככלי אבד "sicut vas periens", Montanus, Cocceius, Gejerus. d So Ainsworth. e V. L. Pagninus, Musculus, Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind - Like the man who is dead, and who has passed away from the recollection of mankind. Compare Psalms 88:4-5. The Hebrew is, “as a dead man from the heart;” that is, from the memory or recollection of men, so as to be no more remembered; no more regarded. The expression is nearly the same in meaning as our common English proverb: “out of sight, out of mind.” The allusion is to the fact that a man who is dead is soon forgotten. He is missed at first by a few friends, while the rest of the world knows little about him, or cares little for him. He is no longer seen where he has been accustomed to be seen, at the place of business, in the social circle, in the scenes of amusement, in the streets, or in public assemblies. For a short period a vacancy is created which attracts attention and causes regret. But the world moves on. Another comes to fill his place, and soon his absence ceases to be a subject of remark, or a cause of regret; the world says little about him, and soon he altogether ceases to be remembered. At no distant time the rude board with his name written on it, or the marble sculptured with all the skill of art, falls down. The passing traveler casts an eye upon the “name” of him who slept his last sleep there, and neither knows nor cares who he was.

“The gay will laugh

When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care

Plod on, and each one as before will chase

His favorite phantom”

- Bryant

“On my grassy grave

The men of future times will careless tread,

And read my name upon the sculptured stone;

Nor will the sound, familiar to their ears,

Recall my vanish’d memory.”

- Henry Kirke White

It is sad to reflect that this is to be our lot; but so it is. It would cast a most gloomy shade over life if this was to be the end of man, and if he passed from existence as soon as he passes from the recollection of the living. The idea of the psalmist here is, that, in the circumstances to which he referred, he had been forgotten by mankind, and he uses the most striking image which could be employed to convey that idea.

I am like a broken vessel - Margin, as in Hebrew, “like a vessel that perisheth.” That is, like a vessel made of clay - a piece of pottery - that is easily broken and rendered worthless. This is a favorite comparison with Jeremiah. See Jeremiah 22:28; Jeremiah 48:38; Lamentations 4:2. Compare also Psalms 2:9; Isaiah 30:14; Hosea 8:8.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 31:12. I am forgotten as a dead man — I am considered as a person adjudged to death. I am like a broken vessel - like a thing totally useless.


 
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