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Read the Bible

King James Version

Psalms 31:12

I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.

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.
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.
Good News Translation
Everyone has forgotten me, as though I were dead; I am like something thrown away.
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 Have mercy upon me, O Lord , for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. 10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. 11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me. 12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. 13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. 14 But I trusted in thee, O Lord : I said, Thou art my God. 15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. 16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake. 17 Let me not be ashamed, O Lord ; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. 18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against 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
Whereas thou hast searched all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us both.
Genesis 31:42
Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.
Genesis 31:43
And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and these cattle are my cattle, and all that thou seest is mine: and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children which they have born?
Exodus 3:7
And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
Exodus 3:9
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
Leviticus 19:13
Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
Deuteronomy 24:15
At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the Lord , and it be sin unto thee.
Psalms 12:5
For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord ; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
Psalms 139:3
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
Ecclesiastes 5:8
If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.

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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