Psalm 42

1  AS THE hart pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for You, O God.2  My inner self thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? 3  My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, Where is your God?4  These things I [earnestly] remember and pour myself out within me: how I went slowly before the throng and led them in procession to the house of God [like a bandmaster before his band, timing the steps to the sound of music and the chant of song], with the voice of shouting and praise, a throng keeping festival.5  Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, my Help and my God.6  O my God, my life is cast down upon me [and I find the burden more than I can bear]; therefore will I [earnestly] remember You from the land of the Jordan [River] and the [summits of Mount] Hermon, from the little mountain Mizar.7  [Roaring] deep calls to [roaring] deep at the thunder of Your waterspouts; all Your breakers and Your rolling waves have gone over me.8  Yet the Lord will command His loving-kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, a prayer to the God of my life.9  I will say to God my Rock, Why have You forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?10  As with a sword [crushing] in my bones, my enemies taunt and reproach me, while they say continually to me, Where is your God?11  Why are you cast down, O my inner self? And why should you moan over me and be disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, Who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

Psalm 42

Book 2(Psalms 42-72)

For the music director; a well-written song by the Korahites.

1 As a deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God!

2 I thirst for God,
for the living God.
I say, “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?”

3 I cannot eat, I weep day and night;
all day long they say to me, “Where is your God?”

4 I will remember and weep!
For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God,
shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival.

5 Why are you depressed, O my soul?
Why are you upset?
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.

6 I am depressed,
so I will pray to you while I am trapped here in the region of the upper Jordan,
from Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

7 One deep stream calls out to another at the sound of your waterfalls;
all your billows and waves overwhelm me.

8 By day the Lord decrees his loyal love,
and by night he gives me a song,
a prayer to the living God.

9 I will pray to God, my high ridge:
“Why do you ignore me?
Why must I walk around mourning
because my enemies oppress me?”

10 My enemies’ taunts cut into me to the bone,
as they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

11 Why are you depressed, O my soul?
Why are you upset?
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.