Psalms for the week of 7/5-7/11: LAMENT PSALMS (Psalm 42)

Psalm 42

BOOK TWO

Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?

To the choirmaster. A Maskil[a] of the Sons of Korah.

¹ As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
² My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?[b] ³ My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
"Where is your God?"
⁴These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.

⁵ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation[c] ⁶and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
⁷Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.
⁸By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
and 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 do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?"
¹⁰As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
"Where is your God?"

¹¹ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 42:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
2. Psalm 42:2 Revocalization yields and see the face of God
3. Psalm 42:5 Hebrew the salvation of my face; also verse 11 and 43:5