Psalms 42

1 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.

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.

2 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?”

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

3 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]?”

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

4 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.

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.

5 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.”

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.

6 [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.

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.

7 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.

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

8 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.

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.

9 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].

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

10 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.

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

11 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.”

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.