Psalm 42

As the Deer Pants for the Water

For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.

¹As the deer pants for streams of water,

so my soul longs after You, O God.

• PS 42:1[NOTE]THE SONS OF KORAH. Korah rebelled against Moses and the earth swallowed him, but his sons did not die, Numbers 16:32 and 26:11. Their family became temple singers. Eleven psalms carry their name.
• PS 42:1[NOTE]ONE SONG. Psalms 42 and 43 share the same chorus, Why are you downcast, O my soul? Many think they were one psalm.

²My soul thirsts for God, the living God.

When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?

³My tears have been my food

both day and night,

while men ask me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

⁴These things come to mind as I pour out my soul:

how I walked with the multitude,

leading the festive procession to the house of God

with shouts of joy and praise.

⁵Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why the unease within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him

for the salvation of His presence.

⁶O my God, my soul despairs within me.

Therefore I remember You

from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon—

even from Mount Mizar.

⁷Deep calls to deep

in the roar of Your waterfalls;

all Your breakers and waves

have rolled over me.

• PS 42:7[NOTE]DEEP CALLS TO DEEP. The psalmist was near the Jordan and Mount Hermon, 42:6, where waterfalls roar.

⁸Yahweh decrees His loving devotion by day,

and at night His song is with me

as a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹I say to God my Rock,

“Why have You forgotten me?

Why must I walk in sorrow

because of the enemy’s oppression?”

¹⁰Like the crushing of my bones,

my enemies taunt me,

while they say to me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

¹¹Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why the unease within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him,

my Savior and my God.