Psalms 44:20

If we had rejected our God, ¹  and spread out our hands in prayer to another god, ² 

If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

If we had forgotten the name of our God Or extended our hands to a strange god,

If we had turned away from worshiping our God or spread our hands in prayer to foreign gods,

If we had forgotten to pray to our God or made fools of ourselves with store-bought gods,

If the name of our God has gone out of our minds, or if our hands have been stretched out to a strange god,

If we had forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god,

If we had forgotten the name of our God, Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,

If we had rejected our God, ¹  and spread out our hands in prayer to another god, ² 

¹ tn Heb “If we had forgotten the name of our God.” To “forget the name” here refers to rejecting the Lord’s authority (see Jer 23:27) and abandoning him as an object of prayer and worship (see the next line).

² tn Heb “and spread out your hands to another god.” Spreading out the hands was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). In its most fundamental sense זר (“another; foreign; strange”) refers to something that is outside one’s circle, often making association with it inappropriate. A “strange” god is an alien deity, an “outside god” (see L. A. Snijders, TDOT 4:54-55).