Psalm 42
Longing for God’s Presence in the Temple
1 For the leader. A maskil of the Korahites.
I
2 As the deer longs for streams of water,(A)
so my soul longs for you, O God.
3 My soul thirsts for God, the living God.
When can I enter and see the face of God?(B)
4 My tears have been my bread day and night,(C)
as they ask me every day, “Where is your God?”(D)
5 Those times I recall
as I pour out my soul,(E)
When I would cross over to the shrine of the Mighty One,
to the house of God,
Amid loud cries of thanksgiving,
with the multitude keeping festival.(F)
6 Why 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
7 My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I remember you
From the land of the Jordan and Hermon,
from Mount Mizar,(G)
8 Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your torrents,
and all your waves and breakers
sweep over me.(H)
9 By day may the Lord send his mercy,
and by night may his righteousness be with me!
I will pray to the God of my life,
10 I will say to God, my rock:
“Why do you forget me?(I)
Why must I go about mourning
with the enemy oppressing me?”
11 It shatters my bones, when my adversaries reproach me,
when they say to me every day: “Where is your God?”
12 Why 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.
Footnotes
- Psalms 42–43
- 42:1
- 42:3
- 42:5
- 42:7
- 42:8
- 42:9–10
Cross references
- 42:2–3 : Ps 63:2; 84:3; 143:6; Is 26:9.
- 42:3 : Ps 27:4.
- 42:4 : Ps 80:6; 102:10.
- 42:4 : Ps 79:10; Jl 2:17.
- 42:5 : Lam 3:20.
- 42:5 : Ps 122:5.
- 42:7 : Ps 43:3.
- 42:8 : Ps 18:5; 32:6; 69:2; 88:8; Jon 2:4.
- 42:10 : Ps 18:2; 31:3–4.
