Psalms 42:1-5

BOOK II

1

Psalms 42–72

1

For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.

1 ^[a][b][c]As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

4 These 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.

5 Why, 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.

Psalms 42:1-5 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 42:1-5 In-Context

1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

4 These 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 Onewith shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.

5 Why, 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.

6 My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.

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

9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”

Cross References

• 1. S Psalms 18:33
• 2. S Deuteronomy 10:7
• 3. S Job 19:27; Psalms 119:131; Joel 1:20
• 4. Psalms 63:1; Psalms 143:6
• 5. S Joshua 3:10; S 1 Samuel 14:39; S Matthew 16:16; Romans 9:26; Jeremiah 10:10
• 6. Psalms 43:4; Psalms 84:7
• 7. S Job 3:24; Psalms 80:5
• 8. ver 10; Psalms 79:10; Psalms 115:2; Joel 2:17; Micah 7:10
• 9. S 1 Samuel 1:15
• 10. Psalms 55:14; Psalms 122:1; Isaiah 2:2; Isaiah 30:29
• 11. S Ezra 3:13
• 12. S Joshua 6:5; Psalms 95:2; Psalms 100:4; Psalms 147:7; John 2:9
• 13. Psalms 35:18; Psalms 109:30
• 14. Psalms 38:6; Psalms 77:3; Lamentations 3:20; Matthew 26:38
• 15. S Job 20:2
• 16. S Psalms 25:5; S Psalms 71:14; Lamentations 3:24
• 17. Psalms 9:1
• 18. Psalms 18:46; Psalms 44:3

Footnotes

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