Psalms 42

1 BOOK SECOND: “To the chief musician, a Maskil, for the sons of Korach.” As a hart panteth after brooks of water, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

Deer pant, desiring to drink water from a stream [when there is a drought] (OR, [when they are being pursued by hunters].) In the same way [SIM], God, I need you very much.

2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I go [again] and be seen in the presence of God?

I desire to have fellowship with [MET] you, the all-powerful God. [I wonder], “When will I be able to go [back to the temple in Israel] and worship in your presence again?”

3 My tears have been my food day and night; because men say unto me all the day, Where is thy God?

Every day and every night I cry; [it is as though] the only thing I have to drink is my tears; and while I do that, my enemies are continually asking me, “Why does your god not [help you]?”

4 These things will I remember, and pour out my soul in me: how I was wont to pass along amidst the multitude, journeying with them as a pilgrim to the house of God, with the voice of joyful song and thanksgiving, among the festive throng.

I am very distressed [IDM] as I remember when I went with the crowd of people to the temple [in Jerusalem], leading them as we walked along; we were all shouting joyfully and singing to thank God [for what he had done]; we were a large group who were celebrating.

5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and disquieted in me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet thank him, because of the salvation of his countenance.

So [I say to] myself, “(Why am I sad and discouraged?/I should not be sad and discouraged!) [RHQ] I confidently expect God [to help me], and again I will praise him, my God, the one who saves me.”

6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of the Jordan, and from the peaks of Chermon, from the low mount.

[But now, Yahweh], I am very discouraged [IDM], so I think about you, even from where the Jordan [River] gushes out from the bottom of Hermon [Mountain] and from Mizar Mountain.

7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterfalls: all thy waves and thy billows have passed over me.

But here, the great sorrow that I feel is like water that you send down [MET]; [it is like] a waterfall that tumbles down and floods over me.

8 In the daytime the Lord will command his kindness, and in the night his song shall be with me, as a prayer unto the God of my life.

Yahweh shows me each day that he faithfully loves me, and each night I sing to him and pray to him, the God who causes me to live.

9 I will say unto God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? why must I walk grieved, under the oppression of the enemy?

I say to God, [who is like] an [overhanging] rock [under which I can hide] [MET], “It seems that you have forgotten me. I (mourn/cry) constantly because my enemies act cruelly toward me” [RHQ].

10 It is as death in my bones, when my assailants reproach me; when they say unto me all the day, Where is thy God?

They make fun of me constantly; they continually ask, “Why does your god not help you?” [RHQ] And when they insult me [like that], [it is like] wounds that I feel even in my bones.

11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within met? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet thank him, the salvation of my countenance, and my God.

But [I think, ] “(Why am I sad and discouraged?/I should not be sad and discouraged!) [RHQ] I will confidently expect God [to help me], and I will praise him again, my God, the one who saves me.”