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.

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.

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 thirsted for God, for the living God, When do I enter and see the face 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 tear has been bread day and night to me, In their saying to me all the day, “Where [is] your 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 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!

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 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!

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.

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

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 is calling to deep At the noise of Your waterspouts, All Your breakers and Your billows 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.

By day YHWH commands His kindness, And by night a song [is] with me, A prayer to 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 say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning in the oppression of an 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.

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