to wake (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
sleepest
תִישַׁ֥ןti.Shan
H3462
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
Lord
אֲדֹנָ֑י'a.do.Nai
H136
the Lord (used as a proper name of God only) · proper noun, a title
arise
הָ֝קִ֗יצָהha.Ki.tzah
H6974
to awake (literally or figuratively) · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
off
תִּזְנַ֥חtiz.Nach
H2186
reject · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
ever
לָנֶֽצַחla.Ne.tzach
H5331
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 7:6 Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commande…
Psalms 78:65 Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.
Psalms 35:23 Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
Psalms 74:1 O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
Psalms 77:7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?
Psalms 88:14 LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
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 puffe…
Psalms 44:9 But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with our armies.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 44:17–end
The people of God, being greatly afflicted and oppressed, here apply to him; whither else should they go?
I. By way of appeal, concerning their integrity, which he only is an infallible judge of, and which he will certainly be the rewarder of. Two things they call God to witness to: -
1. That, though they suffered these hard things, yet they kept close to God and to their duty (Psa 44:17): "All this has come upon us, and it is as bad perhaps as bad can be, yet have we not forgotten thee, neither cast off the thoughts of thee nor deserted the worship of thee; for, though we cannot deny but that we have dealt foolishly, yet we have not dealt falsely in thy covenant, so as to cast thee off and…
This style of addressing God, as indifferent, is frequent (Psa 3:7; Psa 9:19; Psa 13:1, &c.). However low their condition, God is appealed to, on the ground, and for the honor, of His mercy.
Next: Psalms Chapter 45
John Gill on Psalms 44:23
Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord?.... Not that sleep properly falls upon God: the Keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps; his eyes are always upon his people; he never withdraws them from them, and he watches over them night and day: but sometimes he seems and is thought to be asleep; as when wicked men flourish and triumph over the righteous, and go on in sin with impunity; when their judgment seems to linger, and their damnation to slumber, though it does not; and when the saints are under sore afflictions, and the Lord seems to disregard them, and does not appear for their deliverance; and when things are as when the disciples were in a storm, and Christ was asleep, to whom they sai…
Psalm 44:22-26
22. Surely for thy sake we are killed all the day; we are accounted as sheep for slaughter. 23. Arise, O Lord! why sleepest thou? awake, do not forget us or ever. [151] 24. Why hidest thou thy face? wilt thou forget our misery and our affliction [152] 25. For our soul is humbled to the dust: our belly cleaveth to the earth. 26. Arise for our help, and redeem us, for thy goodness' sake.
22 Surely for thy sake we are killed all the day. Here the faithful urge another reason why God should show mercy to them, namely, that they are subjected to sufferings not on account of crimes committed by themselves, but simply because the ungodly, from hatred to the name of God, are opposed…
The Church Fathers
"Awake; why sleepest Thou, O Lord?" (ver. 23). Who is addressed, and who is the speaker? Would not he be more correctly said to sleep and slumber, who speaks such words as these? He replies to you, I know what I am saying: I know that "He that keepeth Israel doth not sleep:" but yet the Martyrs cry, "Awake; why sleepest Thou, O Lord?" O Lord Jesus, Thou wast slain; Thou didst "sleep" in Thy Passion; to us Thou hast now "awaked" from sleep. For "we" know that Thou hast now "awaked" again. To what purpose hast Thou awaked and risen again? The Gentiles that persecute us, think Thee to be dead; do not believe Thee to have risen again. "Arise Thou" then to them also! "Why sleepest Thou," though not to us, yet to them? For if they already believed Thee to have risen again, could they persecute us who believe in Thee? But why do they persecute? "Destroy, slay so and so, whoever have believed in Thee, such an one, who died an ill death!" As yet to them "Thou sleepest;" arise to them, that they may perceive that Thou hast "awaked" again; and may be at rest. Lastly, it has come to pass, while the Martyrs die, and say these things; while they sleep, and "awaken" Christ, truly dead in their sleepings, Christ has, in a certain sense, risen again in the Gentiles; i.e. it becomes believed, that He has risen again; so by degrees they themselves, becoming converted to Christ by believing, collected a numerous body: such as the persecutors dreaded; and the persecutions have come to an end. Why? Because Christ, who before was asleep to them, as not believing, bath risen in the Gentiles. "Arise, and cast us not off for ever!"
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Psalms — The psalms are the production of various authors. “Only a portion of the Book of Psalms claims David as its author. Other inspired poets in successive generations added now one now another…
Anthropomorphisms · .Sleeping — .Sleeping
Murmuring · AGAINST GO — AGAINST GO
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
(Heb.: 44:23-27) The church is not conscious of any apostasy, for on the contrary it is suffering for the sake of its fidelity. Such is the meaning intended by כּי, Psa 44:23 (cf. Psa 37:20). The emphasis lies on עליך, which is used exactly as in Psa 69:8. Paul, in Rom 8:36, transfers this utterance to the sufferings of the New Testament church borne in witnessing for the truth, or I should rather say he considers it as a divine utterance corresponding as it were prophetically to the sufferings of the New Testament church, and by anticipation, coined concerning it and for its use, inasmuch as he cites it with the words καθὼς γέγραπται. The suppliant cries עוּרה and הקיצה are Davidic, and f…
In the end, God’s people can turn to the Lord and trust him for rescue. Their petition for God to remedy their situation is as strong as their lament about God’s rejection.
44:23 Wake up: Biblical authors often call for God’s attention in a crisis (35:23; 44:23; 73:20; 80:2; Mark 4:38).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 44:23
Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever.
Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord. God sleepeth not, but the psalmist puts it so, as if on no other theory he could explain the divine inaction. He would fain see the great Judge ending oppression and giving peace to the holy, therefore does he cry "Awake; "he cannot understand why the reign of tyranny and the oppression of virtue are permitted, and therefore he enquires "Why sleepest thou?" Arise. This is all thou needest to do, one move of thine will save us. Cast us not off for ever. Long enough hast thou deserted us; the terrible effects of thine absence are destroying us; end thou our calamities, and let thine anger be a…
