Psalm 42 (New International Version)

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Psalm 42

New International Version (NIV)

BOOK II

Psalms 42–72

Psalm 42^[a]^[b]

For the director of music. A maskil^[c] of the Sons of Korah.

¹As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
²My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?
³My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”
⁴These things I remember
    as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the Mighty One^[d]
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng.

⁵Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

⁶My soul is downcast within me;
    therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
    the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
⁷Deep calls to deep
    in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
    have swept over me.

⁸By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹I say to God my Rock,
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
    oppressed by the enemy?”
¹⁰My bones suffer mortal agony
    as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”

¹¹Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

Footnotes:

Psalm 42:1 In many Hebrew manuscripts Psalms 42 and 43 constitute one psalm.
Psalm 42:1 In Hebrew texts 42:1-11 is numbered 42:2-12.
Psalm 42:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term
Psalm 42:4 See Septuagint and Syriac; the meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.