Psalms 42

1 TO THE OVERSEER. AN INSTRUCTION OF THE SONS OF KORAH. As a deer pants for streams of water, So my soul pants toward You, O God.

For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God.

2 My soul thirsted for God, for the living God, When do I enter and see the face of God?

My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?

3 My tear has been bread day and night to me, In their saying to me all the day, “Where [is] your God?”

My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”

4 These I remember, and pour out my soul in me, For I pass over into the shelter, I go softly with them to the house of God, With the voice of singing and confession, The multitude keeping celebration!

These things come to mind as I pour out my soul: how I walked with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and praise.

5 Why bow yourself, O my soul? Indeed, are you troubled within me? Wait for God, for I still confess Him: The salvation of my countenance—my God!

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him for the salvation of His presence.

6 My soul bows itself in me, Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan, And of the Hermons, from Mount Mizar.

O my God, my soul despairs within me. Therefore I remember You from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon— even from Mount Mizar.

7 Deep is calling to deep At the noise of Your waterspouts, All Your breakers and Your billows passed over me.

Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.

8 By day YHWH commands His kindness, And by night a song [is] with me, A prayer to the God of my life.

The LORD decrees His loving devotion by day, and at night His song is with me as a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning in the oppression of an enemy?”

I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”

10 With a sword in my bones My adversaries have reproached me, In their saying to me all the day, “Where [is] your God?”

Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

11 Why bow yourself, O my soul? And why are you troubled within me? Wait for God, for I still confess Him, The salvation of my countenance, and my God!

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.