'Forsaken' in the Bible

“The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke in everything that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed, perishing quickly because of the evil of your deeds, because you have turned away from Me.

But Gideon said to him, “Please my lord, if the Lord is with us, then why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wondrous works which our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”

Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord [for help], saying, “We have sinned against You, because we have abandoned (rejected) our God and have served the Baals.”

Yet you have abandoned (rejected) Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer rescue you.

They cried out to the Lord, saying, ‘We have sinned because we have abandoned (rejected) the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now rescue us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve You.’

because they have abandoned Me and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways and followed My commandments, doing what is right in My sight and keeping My statutes and My ordinances as did his father David.

He said, “I have been very zealous (impassioned) for the Lord God of hosts (armies) [proclaiming what is rightfully and uniquely His]; for the sons of Israel have abandoned (broken) Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I, only I, am left; and they seek to take away my life.”

He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts (armies), because the sons of Israel have abandoned (broken) Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I, only I, am left; and they seek to take away my life.”

Because they have abandoned (rejected) Me and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore My wrath burns against this place, and it will not be quenched.”’

Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “Thus says the Lord: ‘You have abandoned (turned away from) Me, so I have abandoned you into the hands of Shishak.’”

But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not abandoned (turned away from) Him. The sons of Aaron are ministering to the Lord as priests, and the Levites attend to their service.

Every morning and every evening they offer the burnt offerings and the fragrant incense to the Lord; and the showbread is set on the clean table [of pure gold], and the golden lampstand with its lamps is ready to light every evening; for we keep the charge of the Lord our God [that is, the obligation we have to Him], but you have abandoned (turned away from) Him.

So Edom revolted against the rule of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time against Jehoram’s rule, because he had abandoned (turned away from) the Lord God of his fathers.

Then the Spirit of God came over Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God has said: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have abandoned (turned away from) the Lord, He has also abandoned (turned away from) you.’”

Though the army of the Arameans came with a small company of men, the Lord handed over a very large army into their hands, because Joash and Judah had abandoned (turned away from) the Lord, the God of their fathers. So the Arameans executed judgment against Joash.

For Pekah son of Remaliah killed 120,000 in Judah in one day, all courageous men, because they had abandoned (turned away from) the Lord God of their fathers.

For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and they have abandoned Him and have turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and have turned their backs [toward Him].

Because they have abandoned (rejected) Me and have burned incense to other gods, in order to provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands, My wrath will be poured out on this place and it will not be extinguished.”’

For we are slaves; yet our God has not abandoned us in our bondage, but has extended lovingkindness to us before the kings of Persia, to revive us to rebuild the house of our God, to repair the site of its ruins and to give us a wall [of protection] in Judah and Jerusalem.

“Now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have abandoned (turned away from) Your commandments,

Then I reprimanded the officials and said, “Why is the house of God neglected?” So I gathered the Levites and singers together and restored them at their posts.

“You who tear yourself apart in anger,Is the earth to be abandoned for your sake,Or the rock to be moved out of its place?

“For he has oppressed and neglected the poor;He has violently taken away houses which he did not build.

And those who know Your name [who have experienced Your precious mercy] will put their confident trust in You,For You, O Lord, have not abandoned those who seek You.

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?

Although my father and my mother have abandoned me,Yet the Lord will take me up [adopt me as His child].

I have been young and now I am old,Yet I have not seen the righteous (those in right standing with God) abandonedOr his descendants pleading for bread.

For innumerable evils have encompassed me;My sins have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see.They are more numerous than the hairs of my head,And my heart has failed me.

Saying, “God has abandoned him;Pursue and seize him, for there is no one to rescue him.”

Ah, sinful nation,A people loaded down with wickedness [with sin, with injustice, with wrongdoing],Offspring of evildoers,Sons who behave corruptly!They have abandoned (rejected) the Lord,They have despised the Holy One of Israel [provoking Him to anger],They have turned away from Him.

Most certainly [Lord] You have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob,Because they are filled with influences from the east,And they are soothsayers [who foretell] like the Philistines;Also they strike bargains with the children of foreigners (pagans).

The Lord has removed [His] people far away,And there are many deserted places in the midst of the land.

For before the child will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land (Canaan) whose two kings you dread will be deserted [both Ephraim and Aram].

“My hand has found the wealth of the people like a nest,And as one gathers eggs that are abandoned, so I have gathered all the earth;And there was not one that flapped its wing, or that opened its beak and chirped.”

“The cities of Aroer [east of the Jordan] are deserted;They will be [only a refuge] for flocks to lie down in,And there will be no one to make them afraid.

In that day the strong cities of Aram and Israel will be like deserted places in the forest,Or like branches which they abandoned before the children of Israel;And the land will be a desolation.

For the fortified city is isolated,A settlement deserted and abandoned like the desert;There the calf will graze,And there it will lie down and feed on its branches.

For the palace has been abandoned, the populated city deserted;The hill [of the city] and the watchtower have become caves [for wild animals] forever,A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks,

Your spoil [of Israel’s foe] is gathered [by the people of Jerusalem] as the caterpillar gathers;As locusts swarming so people swarm on it.

“I will lead the blind by a way they do not know;I will guide them in paths that they do not know.I will make darkness into light before themAnd rugged places into plains.These things I will do [for them],And I will not leave them abandoned or undone.”

But Zion (Jerusalem in captivity) said, “The Lord has abandoned me,And my Lord has forgotten me.”

He was despised and rejected by men,A Man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief;And like One from whom men hide their facesHe was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him.

“For the Lord has called you,Like a wife who has been abandoned, grieved in spirit,And like a wife [married] in her youth when she is [later] rejected and scorned,”Says your God.

“Whereas you [Jerusalem] have been abandoned and hatedWith no one passing through,I will make you an object of pride forever,A joy from generation to generation.

It will no longer be said of you [Judah], “Azubah (Abandoned),”Nor will it any longer be said of your land, “Shemamah (Desolate)”;But you will be called, “Hephzibah (My Delight is in Her),”And your land, “Married”;For the Lord delights in you,And to Him your land will be married [owned and protected by the Lord].

And they will call them “The Holy People,The Redeemed of the Lord”;And you will be called “Sought Out, A City Not Deserted.”

I will speak My judgments against them for all the wickedness of those who have abandoned (rejected) Me, offered sacrifices or burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the [idolatrous] works of their own hands.

“For My people have committed two evils:They have abandoned (rejected) Me,The fountain of living water,And they have carved out their own cisterns,Broken cisternsThat cannot hold water.

“Your own wickedness will discipline you,And your desertion of the faith will punish you.Know therefore that it is an evil and bitter thingFor you to abandon (reject) the Lord your God,And for you to be indifferent to Me and dismiss the [reverent] fear of Me,” says the Lord God of hosts.

Every city runs away at the sound of the horsemen and archers.They go into the thickets and climb among the rocks;Every city is deserted,And no man lives in them.

“Why should I [overlook these offenses and] forgive you?Your children have abandoned (rejected) MeAnd sworn [their oaths] by those who are not gods.When I had fed them until they were full [and bound them to Me by a promise],They committed [spiritual] adultery,Assembling in troops at the houses of prostitutes (idols).

It will come about when your people say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall answer them, ‘As you have abandoned (rejected) Me,’ [says the Lord,] ‘and have served strange and foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

‘Cut off your hair [your crown, O Jerusalem] and throw it away,And take up a mournful cry on the barren heights,For the Lord has rejected and abandonedThe generation of His wrath.’

The Lord said, “Because they have turned away from My law which I set before them, and have not listened to and obeyed My voice nor walked in accordance with it,

“For a sound of wailing is heard [coming] from Zion:‘How we are ruined!We are greatly perplexed and utterly shamed,Because we have left the land,Because they have torn down our dwellings.’”

“I have abandoned My house,I have given up My [precious] inheritance (Judah);I have given the [dearly] beloved of My lifeInto the hands of her enemies.

“You have abandoned (rejected) Me,” says the Lord.“You keep going backward.Therefore I shall stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;I am tired of delaying [your punishment]!

Then you are to say to them, ‘It is because your fathers have abandoned (rejected) Me,’ says the Lord, ‘and have walked after other gods and have served them and bowed down to the handmade idols and have abandoned (rejected) Me and have not kept My law,

O Lord, the hope of Israel,All who abandon You will be shamed.Those who turn away on earth will be written down,Because they have abandoned the Lord, the fountain of living waters.

Because the people [of Jerusalem] have abandoned (rejected) Me and have made this an alien and profaned place by burning sacrifices and incense in it to other gods, that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent

“Run! Save your lives,That you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.

For neither Israel nor Judah has been abandonedBy his God, the Lord of hosts,Though their land is full of sin and guiltBefore the Holy One of Israel.

Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each man in his [secret] room of carved images? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has abandoned the land.’”

Then He said to me, “The wickedness (guilt) of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of blood and the city is full of perversion and injustice; for they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land; the Lord does not see [what we are doing].’

Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate ruins and to the deserted cities which have become prey and a mockery to the rest of the nations which surround you,

They will eat, but not have enough;They will play the prostitute, but not increase [their descendants],Because they have stopped giving heed to the Lord.

How the animals groan!The herds of cattle are bewildered and wander aimlesslyBecause they have no pasture;Even the flocks of sheep suffer.

She has fallen, she will not rise again—The virgin Israel.She lies neglected on her land;There is no one to raise her up.

For [this is the fate of the Philistines:] Gaza will be abandonedAnd Ashkelon a desolation;[The people of] Ashdod will be driven out at noon [in broad daylight]And Ekron will be uprooted and destroyed.

“but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after they had gone, so that no one passed through or returned, for they [by their sins] had made the pleasant land desolate and deserted.”

Listen carefully: your house is being left to you desolate [completely abandoned by God and destitute of His protection]!

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Listen carefully: your house is left to you desolate [abandoned by God and destitute of His protection]; and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed [to be celebrated with praise] is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”