Psalm 42:3

3 My tears have been bread to me day and night, while they daily said to me, Where is thy God?

Psalm 42:3 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 42:3

My tears have been my meat day and night
That is, he could not eat for sorrow, like Hannah, 1Sa 1:7,8;
or while he was eating tears fell in plenty, and they were as common, day and night, as his food, and mixed with it ^F6; see ( Psalms 80:5 ) ;

while they continually say unto me,
his enemies the Philistines,

where [is] thy God?
theirs were to be seen and pointed at, as the host of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, and idols of gold, silver, brass, wood, and stone; wherefore they ask, where was his? but David's God was invisible; he is in the heavens, and does what he pleases, ( Psalms 115:2 Psalms 115:3 ) ; or the sense is, that if there was such a God he believed in and professed, and he was his servant, surely he would never have suffered him to fall into so much distress and calamity, but would have appeared for his relief and deliverance; and therefore tauntingly, and by way of reproach, ask where he was.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F6 "--lachrymaeque alimenta fuere", Ovid. Metamorph. l. 10. Fab. 1. v. 75.

Psalm 42:3 In-Context

1 As the hart earnestly desires the fountains of water, so my soul earnestly longs for thee, O God.

2 My soul has thirsted for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been bread to me day and night, while they daily said to me, Where is thy God?

4 I remembered these things, and poured out my soul in me, for I will go to the place of thy wondrous tabernacle, even to the house of God, with a voice of exultation and thanksgiving and of the sound of those who keep festival.

5 Wherefore art thou very sad, O my soul? and wherefore dost thou trouble me? hope in God; for I will give thanks to him; he is the salvation of my countenance.

6 O my God, my soul has been troubled within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Ermonites, from the little hill.

7 Deep calls to deep at the voice of thy cataracts: all thy billows and thy waves have gone over me.

8 By day the Lord will command his mercy, and manifest it by night: with me is prayer to the God of my life.

9 I will say to God, Thou art my helper; why hast thou forgotten me? wherefore do I go sad of countenance, while the enemy oppresses me?

10 While my bones were breaking, they that afflicted me reproached me; while they said to me daily, Where is thy God?

11 Wherefore art thou very sad, O my soul? and wherefore dost thou trouble me? hope in God; for I will give thanks to him; he is the health of my countenance, and my God.