Psalms 42

KJV · Chapter 42/150

1As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

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

3My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

4When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

5Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

6O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.

7Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

8Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

9I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

10As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

11Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The psalmist, far from the temple, expresses a deep thirst for God, comparing it to a deer's thirst for flowing streams, and fights discouragement by repeating to himself: 'hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him'.

Explanation

This psalm opens 'Book II' of the Psalter and is attributed to the sons of Korah, a group of Levites responsible for the temple's music. The image of the thirsty deer has become one of the Bible's best-known metaphors for spiritual longing for God, especially in times of distance or hardship (the psalmist appears to be exiled, far from Jerusalem, in the region of the Jordan and Mount Hermon). The repeated refrain ('why art thou cast down, O my soul?') reveals a powerful spiritual technique: speaking to oneself, questioning one's own discouragement rather than simply feeling it passively. Today's application: it is possible — and healthy — to dialogue with one's own emotions in light of hope in God.

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