Psalms 42
42
BOOK TWO
(Psalms 42–72)
Psalm 42
For the choir director; a maskil #42:0 Unknown musical term. by Korah’s descendants.
1As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When may I come to see God’s face?
3My tears are my food day and night.
People ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”
4I will remember these things as I pour out my soul:
how I used to walk with the crowd
and lead it in a procession to God’s house.
⌞I sang⌟ songs of joy and thanksgiving
while crowds of people celebrated a festival.
5Why are you discouraged, my soul?
Why are you so restless?
Put your hope in God,
because I will still praise him.
He is my savior and my God.
6My soul is discouraged.
That is why I will remember you
in the land of Jordan, on the peaks of Hermon, on Mount Mizar.
7One deep sea calls to another at the roar of your waterspouts.
All the whitecaps on your waves have swept over me.
8The Lord commands his mercy during the day,
and at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
9I will ask God, my rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk around in mourning
while the enemy oppresses me?”
10With a shattering blow to my bones,
my enemies taunt me.
They ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”
11Why are you discouraged, my soul?
Why are you so restless?
Put your hope in God,
because I will still praise him.
He is my savior and my God.
Currently Selected:
Psalms 42: GW
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Psalms 42
42
Longing for God’s Presence in the Temple
1For the leader. A maskil of the Korahites.#The Korahites: a major guild of Temple singers (2 Chr 20:19) whose name appears in the superscriptions of Ps 42; 44–49; 84–85; 87–88.
I
2As the deer longs for streams of water,#Ps 63:2; 84:3; 143:6; Is 26:9.
so my soul longs for you, O God.
3My soul thirsts for God, the living God.
When can I enter and see the face of God?#See the face of God: “face” designates a personal presence (Gn 33:10; Ex 10:28–29; 2 Sm 17:11). The expressions “see God/God’s face” occur elsewhere (Ps 11:7; 17:15; cf. Ex 24:10; 33:7–11; Jb 33:26) for the presence of God in the Temple.#Ps 27:4.
4My tears have been my bread day and night,#Ps 80:6; 102:10.
as they ask me every day, “Where is your God?”#Ps 79:10; Jl 2:17.
5Those times I recall
as I pour out my soul,#Lam 3:20.
When I would cross over to the shrine of the Mighty One,#The shrine of the Mighty One: this reading follows the tradition of the Septuagint and the Vulgate.
to the house of God,
Amid loud cries of thanksgiving,
with the multitude keeping festival.#Ps 122:5.
6Why are you downcast, my soul;
why do you groan within me?
Wait for God, for I shall again praise him,
my savior and my God.
II
7My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I remember you
From the land of the Jordan#From the land of the Jordan: the sources of the Jordan are in the foothills of Mount Hermon in present-day southern Lebanon. Mount Mizar is presumed to be a mountain in the same range. and Hermon,
from Mount Mizar,#Ps 43:3.
8#Deep calls to deep: to the psalmist, the waters arising in the north are overwhelming and far from God’s presence, like the waters of chaos (Ps 18:5; 69:2–3, 15; Jon 2:3–6).Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your torrents,
and all your waves and breakers
sweep over me.#Ps 18:5; 32:6; 69:2; 88:8; Jon 2:4.
9By day may the Lord send his mercy,
and by night may his righteousness be with me!
I will pray#I will pray…I will say: in the midst of his depression the psalmist turns to prayer. Despite his situation he trusts the Lord to deliver him from his sorrow so that he may enter the Temple precincts and praise him once again (Ps 43:3–4, 5b). to the God of my life,
10I will say to God, my rock:
“Why do you forget me?#Ps 18:2; 31:3–4.
Why must I go about mourning
with the enemy oppressing me?”
11It shatters my bones, when my adversaries reproach me,
when they say to me every day: “Where is your God?”
12Why are you downcast, my soul,
why do you groan within me?
Wait for God, for I shall again praise him,
my savior and my God.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc