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.

For the leader. A maskil of the Korahites. Like the hart which longs for brooks of water, I long for you, 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?”

I thirst for God, for my living God. When shall I enter in, 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 tears have been my food by day and by night; for they say to me all the day long, “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.

My heart floods with sorrow, as I call to mind: how I used to pass on with the throng, at their head, to the house of God, with glad shouts and giving of thanks, in the throng who kept festival.

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 am I downcast? Why this moaning within me? Hope in God; for yet will I praise him, my help, 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.

I am sunk in my misery; I will therefore call you to mind from the land of Jordan and Hermon, the mountain 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.

Flood is calling to flood at the noise of your cataracts; all your waves and your breakers 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 day I cry to the Lord to summon his kindness; and the song that I sing in the night is a prayer to the living God.

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 must I walk so sadly, so hard pressed by the foe?”

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 pierces me to the heart to hear the enemy’s taunts, as all the day long they say to me, “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 am I downcast? Why this moaning within me? Hope in God; for yet will I praise him, my help, my God.