Matthew 27:46 Meaning and Explanation
“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?”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Of everything Jesus said from the cross, this sentence unsettles readers most. Matthew preserves the sound of it before giving the meaning, as though the words themselves needed to be heard. Anyone who has prayed into silence has some access to this moment, and anyone who has wondered whether God understands abandonment has an answer standing here.
About the ninth hour, closing three hours of darkness, Jesus cries aloud in his own tongue the opening line of Psalm 22, addressing God twice and asking why he has been forsaken.
The Context of Matthew 27:46
Matthew 27 moves from the trial before Pilate to Golgotha. Jesus has been mocked by passersby, by chief priests and scribes, and by the two thieves crucified beside him, each taunt circling the claim that he is the Son of God. Verse 45 reports darkness over all the land from the sixth hour to the ninth. Verse 46 breaks that darkness with a cry. Bystanders in verse 47 mishear Eli as a call for Elias. Verse 50 records a second loud cry and his death, followed by the torn veil and the centurion's confession.
What Does Matthew 27:46 Mean?
Matthew keeps the original sounds and then translates, a rare move that slows the reader down. Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani stands as spoken speech, and that is to say introduces the rendering for those who need it. The cry is loud, carrying across the hill after three silent hours in which Matthew records nothing at all. My God, my God repeats the address, and the possessive holds firm: even inside the question, he claims God as his own. The question asks why, a request for reason offered from within a relationship. Every word of the sentence is the opening verse of Psalm 22.
Psalm 22 has been present in this chapter already. Verse 35 notes the parting of garments and the casting of lots, which Psalm 22:18 describes. The head-wagging of verse 39 matches Psalm 22:7, and the taunt in verse 43 about trusting God to deliver him tracks Psalm 22:8. So when Jesus speaks the psalm's first line, he names the song the whole scene has been performing. That psalm travels from this cry toward praise in the congregation and toward all the ends of the world remembering and turning to the Lord. Naming the opening line invokes the whole song.
What the cry costs is real. Matthew gives no explanation and offers no softening, and the darkness over the land suggests that creation itself registered the hour. Isaiah 53:4 speaks of one stricken and afflicted; 2 Corinthians 5:21 speaks of the sinless one made sin for us. Held together, these texts point to a suffering entered on our behalf. The distance felt here is the distance he closes. Within moments the veil of the temple is torn from the top down and a Roman officer says truly this was the Son of God. The cry of dereliction stands at the hinge of that opening.
Matthew 27:46 in the Original Language
azavtani (עֲזַבְתָּנִי), 'forsaken' -- the Hebrew of Psalm 22:1 behind the Aramaic sabachthani that Matthew records. The root carries the sense of leaving behind or letting go of someone, the word used when a person walks away from a charge entrusted to them.
Bible Verses Related to Matthew 27:46
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”
- Psalm 22:1
“They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”
- Psalm 22:18
“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?”
- Mark 15:34
“Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;”
- Hebrews 5:7
Where Matthew 27:46 Echoes in Scripture
Hebrews 5:7 recalls that in the days of his flesh Jesus offered prayers with strong crying and tears to the one able to save him from death, and was heard. Read alongside Matthew 27:46, that verse keeps the cry from being read as failure. A loud voice raised to God is treated in Hebrews as priestly prayer, offered in real anguish and genuinely received. The Gospel records the sound; the letter tells us it reached its hearer.
How to Apply Matthew 27:46 Today
Many of us carry a prayer we have stopped saying out loud because it sounded too raw. This verse gives that prayer a place. Jesus prayed his anguish in words handed to him by Scripture, which means the Psalms are available to us for the same purpose. When words fail, we can borrow them. We can also change how we sit with others in the dark: presence matters more than explanation, and few things comfort like company that stays through the ninth hour. Naming grief honestly before God is an act of faith, and this cry proves it.
Reflection & Prayer
Which psalm could carry the words we have been unable to form this month? A prayer: Lord Jesus, you cried out in the dark and were heard. When our own hours run long and quiet, hold us in the same hearing. Teach us to pray honestly, to stay near those who suffer, and to trust the Father whose silence you have already passed through on our behalf. Amen.