1 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 thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence? 3 My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4 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 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 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 calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me. 8 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 must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?” 10 Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 11 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.
Psalms · Berean Standard Bible
Psalm 42 Berean Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Greek and Latin Bibles number most Psalms one lower than Hebrew and English Bibles.
Cross references (11)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Psalm 63:1–2; Psalm 143:6–7; Psalm 119:131; Isaiah 26:8–9; Psalm 84:1–2
- 2 Psalm 63:1; Psalm 84:10; John 7:37; Psalm 27:4; Revelation 22:1
- 3 Psalm 79:10; Psalm 115:2; Joel 2:17; Psalm 42:10; Psalm 80:5
- 4 Isaiah 30:29; Psalm 62:8; 1 Samuel 1:15–16; Psalm 122:1; Nahum 1:15
- 5 Psalm 37:7; Hebrews 10:36–37; Psalm 61:2; Matthew 1:23; Psalm 27:13–14
- 6 Psalm 61:2; Jonah 2:7; Deuteronomy 3:8–9; Psalm 43:4; 2 Samuel 17:22
- 7 Jonah 2:3; Psalm 69:14–15; Psalm 88:7; Lamentations 3:53–55; Ezekiel 7:26
- 8 Psalm 16:7; Psalm 149:5; Psalm 63:6; Job 35:10; Deuteronomy 28:8
- 9 Psalm 38:6; Psalm 18:2; Psalm 43:2; Psalm 62:2; Psalm 28:1
- 10 Psalm 42:3; Joel 2:17; Luke 2:35; Proverbs 12:18; Micah 7:10
- 11 Psalm 42:5; Jeremiah 33:6; Jeremiah 30:17; Psalm 43:5; Matthew 9:12
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Whence the soul, whose wandering has been made far away, may understand, if now she thirsts for Thee, if now her tears have become bread to her, while it is daily said unto her "Where is thy God?" if she now seeketh of Thee one thing, and desireth that she may dwell in Thy house all the days of her …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… because Thy Spirit was "borne over the waters," Thy mercy forsook not our misery, and Thou saidst, "Let there be light," "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Repent ye, let there be light. And because our soul was troubled within us, we remembered Thee, O Lord, from the land of Jordan, and that mountain equal unto …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
But as yet "by faith, not by sight," for "we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope." As yet deep calleth unto deep but in "the noise of Thy waterspouts." And as yet doth he that saith, I "could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal," even he, as yet, doth …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)