Translations
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
For the Director of Music. A Mizmor of.
How long, YHWH? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?
For the Director of Music. A Psalm of.
How long, Yahweh? Will You forget me—forever? How long will You keep Your face turned away from me?
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?
Footnotes
The superscription lamnatséach (לַמְנַצֵּחַ) is rendered "For the Director of Music" rather than the older "chief musician"; the root natsach carries connotations of overseeing or excelling, pointing to a liturgical leadership role. Mizmor (מִזְמוֹר) is a specific Hebrew genre term—a song performed with a plucked instrument—left untranslated in F.O.G. to honor its technical precision, while F.O.G.M. uses the familiar "Psalm." The fourfold 'ad-anah (עַד-אָנָה, "how long?") that drives vv.1–2 opens here with double force: tishkacheni (תִּשְׁכָּחֵנִי, "You forget me") and tastir et-panekha (תַּסְתִּיר אֶת-פָּנֶיךָ, "You hide Your face") are both active verbs with YHWH as subject—the psalmist is not blaming circumstance but addressing God directly with raw covenantal accusation. Netzach (נֶצַח) means not just "a long time" but "to the uttermost end"—a final, permanent forgetting. The "hiding of the face" (hastarat panim) is a loaded covenantal idiom throughout the Hebrew Bible, signifying the suspension of divine favor and presence (cf. Deut. 31:17; Ps. 27:9). F.O.G. preserves the stark address "YHWH"; F.O.G.M. uses "Yahweh" while drawing out the relational rupture with "kept turned away."

