"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" is a phrase that appears both in theOld Testament orHebrew Bible, in theBook of Psalms, as well as in theNew Testament of theChristianBible, where they appear as one of thesayings of Jesus on the cross, according toMatthew 27:46 and alsoMark 15:34.
These words are the opening words ofPsalm 22 – in the originalHebrew: אֵלִ֣י אֵ֖לִי לָמָ֣ה עֲזַבְתָּ֑נִיEli, Eli, lama azavtani, meaning 'My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?'.
In theNew Testament, the phrase is the only of the sevenSayings of Jesus on the cross that appears in more than oneGospel.[1] It is given in slightly different version in theGospel of Matthew, where it is transliterated intoGreek as Ἠλί, Ἠλί, λεμὰ σαβαχθανί, whereas in theGospel of Mark it is given as Ἐλωΐ, Ἐλωΐ, λαμὰ σαβαχθανί. The difference being the first two words being stated asEli or asEloi.
The Greek form σαβαχθανί in both accounts is the Greek transliteration of Aramaic שבקתני,transliterated:šəḇaqtani, meaning 'hast forsaken me'. It is a conjugated form of the verbšǝḇaq/šāḇaq, 'to allow, to permit, to forgive, and to forsake', with the perfect tense ending-t (2nd person singular: 'you'), and the object suffix-anī (1st person singular: 'me'). The Aramaic formשבק (šbq) 'abandon'[2][3] corresponds to theHebrewעזב (azav), also meaning 'leave, abandon'.
Around the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, saying "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" which is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
And at the ninth hour, Jesus shouted in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
This phrase, one of theseven sayings of Jesus on the cross, is given in these two versions. The version used in theGospel of Matthew is transliterated in Greek as Ἠλί, Ἠλί, λεμὰ σαβαχθανί. The version presented in theGospel of Mark is Ἐλωΐ, Ἐλωΐ, λαμὰ σαβαχθανί. The differences between the two are the use, in Mark, ofelōi rather thanēli, and oflama rather thanlema.
Overall, both versions can be said to be inAramaic, rather than inHebrew, because of the verbשבק (šbq) 'abandon', which exists only in Aramaic.[2][3] The Biblical Hebrew counterpart to this word,עזב ('zb originally, rendered asazav inModern Hebrew) is seen in the second line of theOld Testament'sPsalm 22, which the saying appears to quote. Thus, Jesus is not quoting the canonical Hebrew version (ēlī ēlī lāmā 'azabtānī), attributed in some Jewish interpretations toKing David himself, but rather the version in an AramaicTargum (translation of the Bible). Surviving Aramaic Targums do use the verbšbq in their translations of the Psalm 22.[4]
The word used in the Gospel of Mark formy god, Ἐλωΐ, corresponds to the Aramaic form אלהי,elāhī. The one used in Matthew, Ἠλί, fits in better with the אלי of the original Hebrew Psalm, but the form is attested abundantly in Aramaic as well.[3][5]
In the next verse, in both accounts, some who hear Jesus's cry imagine that he is calling for help fromElijah (Ēlīyā in Aramaic).
Almost all ancient Greek manuscripts show signs of trying to normalize the two slightly different versions of Jesus's saying, presented in Mark and Matthew. For instance, the peculiarCodex Bezae renders both versions with ηλι ηλι λαμα ζαφθανι (ēli ēli lama zaphthani). The Alexandrian, Western and Caesarean textual families all reflect harmonization of the texts between Matthew and Mark. Only the Byzantine textual tradition preserves a distinction.
The Greek form σαβαχθανί in both accounts is the Greek transliteration of Aramaic שבקתני,transliterated:šəḇaqtani, meaning 'hast forsaken me'. It is a conjugated form of the verbšǝḇaq/šāḇaq, 'to allow, to permit, to forgive, and to forsake', with the perfect tense ending-t (2nd person singular: 'you'), and the object suffix-anī (1st person singular: 'me').
In Hebrew, the saying would be "אֵלִי אֵלִי, לָמָה עֲזַבְתָּנִי" (ēlī ēlī, lāmā 'azabtānī inBiblical Hebrew,eli eli lama azavtani inModern Hebrew pronunciation), while theSyriac-Aramaic phrase according to thePeshitta would beSyriac:ܐܝܠܝ ܐܝܠܝ ܠܡܐ ܫܒܩܬܢܝ,romanized: ʔēl ʔēl lǝmā šǝḇaqtān (Matthew 27:46) orSyriac:ܐܠܗܝ ܐܠܗܝ ܠܡܢܐ ܫܒܩܬܢܝ,romanized: ʾalāh ʾalāh lǝmānā šǝḇaqtān (Mark 15:34).
This saying is taken by some as an abandonment of the Son by the Father. Another interpretation holds that at the moment when Jesus took upon himself the sins of humanity, the Father had to turn away from the Son because the Father is "of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong" (ESV).[6][7]
Others see these words in the context of Psalm 22 and suggest that Jesus recited these words, perhaps even the whole psalm, "that he might show himself to be the very Being to whom the words refer; so that the Jewish scribes and people might examine and see the cause why he would not descend from the cross; namely, because this very psalm showed that it was appointed that he should suffer these things."[citation needed]
A different approach was suggested byChiara Lubich, where forsakenness is seen as an element of inseparable reciprocity with respect to prayer "that all may be one" inJohn 17:21-23.[8]