What did Jesus mean by “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Published September 1, 2026

Jesus was expressing the terrible anguish of His suffering while quoting the opening words of Psalm 22. His cry reveals the reality of the cross and identifies Him with the righteous sufferer described in that psalm. It is not evidence that He stopped being God, became sinful, or abandoned faith in His Father.

“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?”

Matthew 27:46, KJV

These are the opening words of Psalm 22

Psalm 22 begins, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1). Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 record Jesus using those words from the cross. The connection is direct, not a resemblance invented by later readers.

The psalm begins in deep distress. The sufferer cries for help while enemies surround him and mock his trust in God. Jesus’ use of its language places His suffering within Scripture’s account of a righteous sufferer who depends on God even when deliverance has not yet come.

The surrounding events also echo the psalm

Psalm 22:7–8 describes mockers shaking their heads and saying that God should deliver the one who trusted Him. Matthew 27:39–43 records closely corresponding insults directed at Jesus. His enemies treated His suffering as proof that His confidence in God was empty.

Psalm 22:18 describes garments being divided and lots being cast. John 19:23–24 explicitly connects the soldiers’ treatment of Jesus’ clothing to the fulfillment of Scripture. These details show that the opening cry is part of a larger biblical pattern surrounding the crucifixion.

The cross was not an unforeseen collapse of God’s purpose. Human beings acted wickedly, but Jesus’ suffering fulfilled what Scripture had anticipated. Recognizing that fulfillment does not excuse the cruelty of those who crucified Him.

The anguish was genuine

Jesus was not merely reciting a verse to solve a puzzle for observers. He was suffering. The darkness, the violence, and His loud cry must not be reduced to a performance.

He had already spoken of His sorrow and prayed in Gethsemane about the cup before Him (Matthew 26:38–39). Hebrews 5:7 describes His prayers with strong crying and tears. The Son truly became human and truly endured death; the reality of His divine nature did not make the cross painless.

Christians commonly connect this cry with His bearing our sins and the judgment sin deserves. Isaiah 53:5–6, Galatians 3:13, and 1 Peter 2:24 describe His suffering for us. We can affirm the terrible cost of that work without pretending the Gospel explains every aspect of His inward experience.

“My God” remains a cry of relationship

Jesus addressed God twice as “My God.” The words are lament directed to God, not a declaration that God does not exist or cannot be trusted. Scripture gives believers language for honest grief without requiring them to abandon faith.

That does not make Jesus’ suffering ordinary or fully comparable to ours. His saving work is unique. It does show that asking “why” in anguish is not automatically unbelief. The meaning of a lament must be judged by its setting and by the person’s continued turning toward God.

Psalm 22 does not end in abandonment

The psalm moves from suffering to praise. Psalm 22:24 says that God did not despise the afflicted person or hide His face from him, but heard when he cried. Its closing movement anticipates worship extending to the ends of the world (Psalm 22:27–31).

Jesus’ opening quotation naturally directs readers toward that larger scriptural setting. It would go beyond the text to insist that every bystander recognized the whole psalm or that Jesus audibly recited all of it. Yet reading the whole psalm prevents us from treating its first line as though hopeless abandonment were the final word.

The resurrection supplies the decisive vindication in the Gospel story. Jesus truly died, but death did not have the last word. God raised Him from the dead (Acts 2:24).

Do not add claims the passage does not make

The cry does not say that the Son ceased to be divine or that the Father and Son became separate gods. Nor does it say that Jesus became morally corrupt. Second Corinthians 5:21 speaks of the One who knew no sin being made sin for us; His sinlessness is central to His saving sacrifice.

Christians differ in how they describe the precise nature of the forsakenness. Some emphasize His bearing divine judgment; others emphasize the experience of abandonment and the psalm’s promise of vindication. The related article “Did the Father actually forsake Jesus on the cross?” considers that distinction more directly. Here the clear focus is His real suffering, His scriptural words, and the faithful completion of His mission.

The biblical answer

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” is the suffering Savior’s genuine cry and a direct quotation of Psalm 22. It points to the depth of His anguish and the fulfillment of Scripture, while the whole biblical account leads beyond death to vindication. We should hear both the terrible cost of our redemption and the faithfulness of the One who endured it.