# My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me? > Jesus was praying Psalm 22. The cry is the opening of a psalm in which God hears the sufferer, and it belongs to the Son bearing sin, not to a split inside God or to a crucifixion that never happened. - Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/my-god-my-god-why-have-you-forsaken-me - Religions: Christianity, Islam - Denominations: none - Beliefs: Atheism - Tags: jesus, crucifixion, psalms - Updated: 2026-10-09 - Author: [Paul Ambrose](https://apologetics.wiki/author/hi-its-paul) ([GitHub](https://github.com/hi-its-paul)) Jesus was praying the first line of Psalm 22. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” is [Psalm 22:1](/bible/psalms/22/1). The psalm goes on to the mockery, the pierced hands, the gambled clothes, and then to God hearing the one who cried. The cry is real abandonment borne by the Son, not a discovery that he was not God, and not evidence that the cross never happened. ## Key points - [Mark 15:34](/bible/mark/15/34) [(1)](#ref-1) and [Matthew 27:46](/bible/matthew/27/46) [(2)](#ref-2) record the cry in Aramaic and then give the meaning in the words of Psalm 22:1. - [Psalm 22:7–8](/bible/psalms/22/7) and [Matthew 27:43](/bible/matthew/27/43) use the same taunt: he trusted God; let God deliver him. - [Psalm 22:18](/bible/psalms/22/18) and [Matthew 27:35](/bible/matthew/27/35) both have the garments divided by lot. - [Psalm 22:24](/bible/psalms/22/24) says God did not hide his face: “when he cried unto him, he heard.” - [Isaiah 53:6](/bible/isaiah/53/6) [(4)](#ref-4) says the LORD laid our iniquity on him. [2 Corinthians 5:21](/bible/2-corinthians/5/21) [(5)](#ref-5) says God made him to be sin for us. - [Qur’an 4:157](https://quran.com/an-nisa/157) [(8)](#ref-8) says they did not kill him and did not crucify him. The cry sits inside the Gospel’s account of a death the Qur’an denies. [Did Jesus die on the cross?](/islam/did-jesus-die-on-the-cross) quotes both. ## The words on the cross [Mark 15:34](/bible/mark/15/34), King James Version: > And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [Matthew 27:46](/bible/matthew/27/46): > And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Mark keeps the Aramaic and then translates it. Matthew’s “Eli, Eli” is the same sentence. The English meaning they both print is [Psalm 22:1](/bible/psalms/22/1): > My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? A Jew praying a psalm prays the psalm, not an isolated slogan. Psalm 22 is a prayer of a righteous sufferer. It opens in the pit. It does not stay there. ## What the rest of Psalm 22 says [Psalm 22:7–8](/bible/psalms/22/7): > All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. [Matthew 27:39–43](/bible/matthew/27) has the passers-by shaking their heads, and the rulers saying, “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.” The taunt is the psalm’s taunt, aimed at Jesus because he had said he was the Son. [Psalm 22:16–18](/bible/psalms/22/16): > For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. [Matthew 27:35](/bible/matthew/27/35) says they crucified him and parted his garments, casting lots, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.” The King James of Psalm 22:16 says “they pierced my hands and my feet.” The Hebrew verb in that line is disputed: some readers take the consonants as “like a lion” rather than “they pierced.” The garment sentence is not that dispute. [Psalm 22:18](/bible/psalms/22/18) and the crucifixion narrative say the clothes were divided by lot. The cross does not stand or fall on one contested verb. [Psalm 22:24](/bible/psalms/22/24): > For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. The psalm’s own answer to “why hast thou forsaken me?” is that God heard. [Psalm 22:27–31](/bible/psalms/22) ends with the kingdoms worshipping and a people yet unborn being told what God has done. Jesus prays a psalm that begins in forsakenness and ends in vindication. The resurrection is that vindication, which [the resurrection of Jesus](/christianity/resurrection-of-jesus) argues from the appearances, not from the psalm alone. ## What the cry means Forsakenness in this prayer is the Son bearing sin as man, not the collapse of God. [Isaiah 53:4–6](/bible/isaiah/53): > Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. [2 Corinthians 5:21](/bible/2-corinthians/5/21): “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” The one who knew no sin is treated as sin. That is judgment, and it is why the prayer can say “forsaken” without meaning that the Father stopped being God or that the Son stopped being God. [Is Jesus God?](/christianity/is-jesus-god) keeps the confession that the Son is God. The cross is that Son, in a human nature, under the curse. The Father did not die. The Son did not cease to be the Son. [If Jesus is God, why did he pray?](/islam/if-jesus-is-god-why-did-he-pray) is the same distinction, heard in Gethsemane rather than at the ninth hour. The other words from the cross sit beside the cry. [John 19:30](/bible/john/19/30) [(6)](#ref-6): “It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” [Luke 23:46](/bible/luke/23/46) [(7)](#ref-7): “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” The same passion includes a completed work and a commendation into the Father’s hands. Mark and Matthew record the psalm. Luke and John record the last trust. They are not two Jesuses. ## A Muslim reading Most Muslims, following [Qur’an 4:157](https://quran.com/an-nisa/157), say Jesus was not killed and was not crucified. Saheeh International: > And [for] their saying, "Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the messenger of Allāh." And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. On that reading, the cry in Mark either was never spoken by Jesus, or it was spoken by someone else who had been made to look like him. A further Muslim use of the sentence, when the Gospel is allowed to stand for a moment, is that a cry of abandonment does not fit God and does not fit a prophet whom God protects. Both uses need the verse. The first denies the scene. The second treats the scene as proof that the one on the cross cannot be divine. Christians grant the second point’s premise and refuse the conclusion. A cry of real distress is what the incarnation predicts if the Son truly suffers. [Mark 14:36](/bible/mark/14/36) already has him say, “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me.” The cup is not refused in the end. Psalm 22 is the prayer of the one who drinks it. The Qur’an’s denial of the crucifixion is a different claim, and it has to answer Paul, the passion narratives, and Tacitus together. That case is [Did Jesus die on the cross?](/islam/did-jesus-die-on-the-cross). [Was Jesus a Muslim?](/islam/was-jesus-a-muslim) is the related claim that his religion was already Islam. The word “another” in Saheeh International’s 4:157 is in brackets. The brackets are the translators’ addition. The Arabic line they are rendering says the matter was made to resemble something to them. The substitution story is the usual explanation. It is not required by a noun sitting in the Arabic of that clause. If the cry was spoken by a substitute, God would have put Psalm 22 on the wrong man’s mouth while the Gospels, Paul, and the disciples preached that mouth as Jesus’. [Qur’an 61:14](https://quran.com/as-saf/14) says God supported those who believed and they became dominant. The message those believers carried was the cross. ## A skeptic reading One skeptical reading treats the cry as something the church is unlikely to have invented, because it sounds like despair, and therefore as a genuine memory that Jesus died feeling abandoned. Another reading treats Mark 15 as written to match Psalm 22: the Aramaic line, the mockery, and the lots are scripture coloring, not a transcript. Both readings notice real features of the text. Mark does translate the Aramaic, which is a strange thing to invent if the only goal was a tidy proof-text, since he then has bystanders mishear “Eloi” as a call for Elijah. Mark also writes the scene so that a reader of Psalm 22 will recognize it. Memory and scriptural shaping are not exclusive. A remembered line from the psalm is exactly the sort of prayer a devout Jew might pray, and exactly the sort of line a Gospel would keep. Neither reading makes the resurrection unnecessary, and neither reading erases the death. A Jesus who only seemed to suffer, or who never reached a cross, does not pray this line. A Jesus who prays it and is then raised is the Christian claim: the forsakenness was borne, and [Psalm 22:24](/bible/psalms/22/24) is what God did next. ## Frequently asked questions ### What does “why have you forsaken me” mean? It is Psalm 22:1, prayed by Jesus at the ninth hour. In the psalm the sufferer is mocked, his clothes are gambled for, and God then hears him. On the cross it is the Son bearing the iniquity Isaiah 53 says the LORD laid on him. ### Did God abandon God? The Son, as man, bore judgment. The Father and the Son did not become two gods, and the Son did not stop being God. [John 19:30](/bible/john/19/30) and [Luke 23:46](/bible/luke/23/46) are the same cross: the work finished, and the spirit commended to the Father. ### Does this prove Jesus was not crucified? [Qur’an 4:157](https://quran.com/an-nisa/157) denies the killing and the crucifixion. Mark 15:34 is a sentence inside an account of that crucifixion. Using the cry against Jesus’ deity still uses the Gospel’s scene. Denying the scene has to deal with the rest of the evidence, not with this line alone. ### Why do Matthew and Mark disagree on Eli and Eloi? Matthew has “Eli, Eli.” Mark has “Eloi, Eloi.” Both translate the cry as “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The difference is the Aramaic wording of the same psalm line, not two different prayers. ## Keep reading - [Did Jesus die on the cross?](/islam/did-jesus-die-on-the-cross) - [Is Jesus God?](/christianity/is-jesus-god) - [The resurrection of Jesus](/christianity/resurrection-of-jesus) - [If Jesus is God, why did he pray?](/islam/if-jesus-is-god-why-did-he-pray) - [Was Jesus a real person?](/christianity/did-jesus-exist) ## Passages quoted on this page ### Matthew 27:35 King James Version. > And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. ### Qur’an 4:157 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/an-nisa/157) > And [for] their saying, "Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the messenger of Allāh." And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain. ### Matthew 27:39–43 King James Version. > [27:39] And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, [27:40] And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. [27:41] Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, [27:42] He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. [27:43] He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. ### Psalms 22:27–31 King James Version. > [22:27] All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. [22:28] For the kingdom is the LORD’s: and he is the governor among the nations. [22:29] All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. [22:30] A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. [22:31] They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this. ### John 19:30 King James Version. > When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. ### Luke 23:46 King James Version. > And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. ### Mark 14:36 King James Version. > And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt. ### Qur’an 61:14 Saheeh International. [Open on quran.com](https://quran.com/61/14) > O you who have believed, be supporters of Allāh, as when Jesus, the son of Mary, said to the disciples, "Who are my supporters for Allāh?" The disciples said, "We are supporters of Allāh." And a faction of the Children of Israel believed and a faction disbelieved. So We supported those who believed against their enemy, and they became dominant. ## Sources Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site. 1. [Gospel of Mark, 15:34](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/mark/15/34). King James Version 2. [Gospel of Matthew, 27:35; 27:43; 27:46](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/matthew/27/35). King James Version 3. [Book of Psalms, 22:1; 22:7–8; 22:16–18; 22:24](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/psalms/22/1). King James Version 4. [Book of Isaiah, 53:4–6](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/isaiah/53). King James Version 5. [Second Letter to the Corinthians, 5:21](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/2-corinthians/5/21). King James Version 6. [Gospel of John, 19:30](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/john/19/30). King James Version 7. [Gospel of Luke, 23:46](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/luke/23/46). King James Version 8. [Qur'an, 4:157](https://quran.com/an-nisa/157) (Saheeh International, as published on Quran.com. Words in square brackets are part of that translation.) ## See also - [Was Jesus a Real Person?](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/did-jesus-exist) — Yes. Jesus of Nazareth was crucified under Pontius Pilate. Paul, the Gospels, Tacitus, and Josephus all place him there, while people who had known his family were still alive. - [Is Jesus God? Where Jesus Claimed to Be God](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/is-jesus-god) — Yes. Jesus is truly God and truly human. He forgave sins, applied God’s name and honor to himself, and received the words “My LORD and my God,” which is why the church confesses him as God the Son. - [The Deity of Christ: Is Jesus God?](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/deity-of-christ) — Yes. Christians confess that Jesus is truly God and truly human. The passages are in Is Jesus God?; this page maps how Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Latter-day Saints, and atheists hear that confession. - [The resurrection of Jesus](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/resurrection-of-jesus) — The Christian claim that Jesus was crucified, buried, and raised, and the main ways that claim is doubted. - [Did Jesus Die on the Cross?](https://apologetics.wiki/islam/did-jesus-die-on-the-cross) — The Qur'an is widely read as saying Jesus was not crucified. The Gospels, Paul, and two Roman-era historians say he was. ## History [View history on GitHub](https://github.com/Apologetics-Wiki/apologetics-wiki/commits/main/src/content/articles/my-god-my-god-why-have-you-forsaken-me.md)