forsake, forsaken, leave

Definition

The term “forsake” means to abandon someone or to give up something. Someone who has been “forsaken” has been deserted or abandoned by someone else.

• When people “forsake” God, they are being unfaithful to him by disobeying him.
• When God “forsakes” people, he has stopped helping them and allowed them to experience suffering in order to cause them to turn back to him.
• This term can also mean to forsake things, such as forsaking, or not following, God’s teachings.
• The term “forsaken” can be used in the past tense, as in “he has forsaken you” or as in referring to someone who has “been forsaken.”

Translation Suggestions

• Other ways to translate this term could include “abandon” or “neglect” or “give up” or “go away from” or “leave behind,” depending on the context.
• To “forsake” God’s law could be translated “disobey God’s law.” This could also be translated as “abandon” or “give up on” or “stop obeying” his teachings or his laws.
• The phrase “be forsaken” can be translated as “be abandoned” or “be deserted.”
• It more clearer to use different words to translate this term, depending on whether the text describes forsaking a thing or a person.

Bible References

• 1 Kings 6:11-13
• Daniel 11:29-30
• Genesis 24:27
• Joshua 24:16-18
• Matthew 27:45-47
• Proverbs 27:9-10
• Psalms 71:18

Word Data

• Strong’s: H0488, H2308, H5203, H5428, H5800, H5805, H7503, G06460, G06570, G08630, G14590, G26410