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Book II

(Psalms 42–72)

Psalm 42

Longing for God and His Help in Distress

To the leader. A Maskil of the Korahites.

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
    so my soul longs for you, O God.(A)
My soul thirsts for God,
    for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
    the face of God?(B)
My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me continually,
    “Where is your God?”(C)

These things I remember,
    as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng[a]
    and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
    a multitude keeping festival.(D)
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,
my help(E)     and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
    therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
    from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
    at the thunder of your torrents;
all your waves and your billows
    have gone over me.(F)
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
    and at night his song is with me,
    a prayer to the God of my life.(G)

I say to God, my rock,
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
    because the enemy oppresses me?”(H)
10 As with a deadly wound in my body,
    my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
    “Where is your God?”(I)

11 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,
    my help and my God.(J)

Footnotes

  1. 42.4 Meaning of Heb uncertain