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Book Two

Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?

To the choirmaster. A Maskil^[a] of the Sons of Korah.

 As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
² My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?^[b]
3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
⁴ These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.

⁵ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
   and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
   my salvation^[c] 6 and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
⁷ Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.
⁸ By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
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
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
¹⁰ As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”

¹¹ Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 42:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
2. Psalm 42:2 Revocalization yields and see the face of God
3. Psalm 42:5 Hebrew the salvation of my face; also verse 11 and 43:5

Cross references:

1. Psalm 42:1 : 1 Chr. 6:33, 37
2. Psalm 42:1 : [Joel 1:20]
3. Psalm 42:2 : Ps. 63:1; John 7:37; [Isa. 41:17; 55:1]; See Ps. 84:2
4. Psalm 42:2 : Ps. 84:2; Josh. 3:10; Dan. 6:26
5. Psalm 42:2 : Ps. 84:7; [Ex. 23:17]
6. Psalm 42:3 : Ps. 80:5; 102:9
7. Psalm 42:3 : ver. 10; Ps. 79:10; 115:2; Joel 2:17; Mic. 7:10
8. Psalm 42:4 : Ps. 62:8; 1 Sam. 1:15; Job 30:16; Lam. 2:19
9. Psalm 42:4 : [Isa. 30:29]
10. Psalm 42:4 : Ps. 55:14
11. Psalm 42:4 : [2 Sam. 6:15]
12. Psalm 42:5 : ver. 11; Ps. 43:5; [Matt. 26:38; John 12:27]
13. Psalm 42:5 : Ps. 77:3
14. Psalm 42:5 : Lam. 3:24
15. Psalm 42:6 : Jonah 2:7
16. Psalm 42:6 : 2 Sam. 17:22, 24
17. Psalm 42:6 : Deut. 3:9
18. Psalm 42:7 : Jonah 2:3
19. Psalm 42:7 : Ps. 88:7; See Ps. 32:6
20. Psalm 42:8 : Ps. 44:4; 68:28; 71:3; 133:3
21. Psalm 42:8 : Job 35:10; [Ps. 4:4; 16:7; 63:6; 77:6; 119:55, 62, 148; 149:5]
22. Psalm 42:9 : See Ps. 18:2; 2 Sam. 22:2
23. Psalm 42:9 : Ps. 38:6; 43:2
24. Psalm 42:10 : See ver. 3
25. Psalm 42:11 : See ver. 5