Verse Lens · Context pointer
Psalms 44:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Psalm 44:21: Within “Communal memory meets unexplained defeat: The community protests its faithfulness,” the line “Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets…” supplies one distinct parallel claim, image, address, or response.
Read It With
- Psalms 44:1–26
- Psalms 44:17–22
Read Psalm 44:21 with 44:17–22 and the whole of Psalm 44. Psalm 44:21 adds the distinct poetic line “Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart” within “The community protests its faithfulness,” where its parallel neighbors determine emphasis and scope. The communal-lament form, parallel lines, voice, and Book II placement keep the selected line from becoming a contextless slogan.
Why It Needs Context
The line “Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of…” is a premise, image, address, response, or transition inside Psalms 44:17–22; its parallel neighbors and the movement titled “Communal memory meets unexplained defeat: The community protests its faithfulness” must supply the claim before teaching or application.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Psalms 44:17–22 — Communal memory meets unexplained defeat: The community protests its faithfulnessSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 44:17–22, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 44:17–22
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗