Logo - Feel The Words
ACV

Psalms Chapter 42 (ACV)

minutes - words.
Psalm 42 - As the Hart Panteth After the Water Brooks
Tap a verse to highlight it

1 As the hart pants after the water brooks, so my soul pants after thee, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, Where is thy God?

4 These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, how I went with the throng, and led them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping holyday.

5 Why are thou cast down, O my soul? And why are thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me. Therefore I remember thee from the land of the Jordan, and the Hermons, from the hill Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep at the noise of thy waterfalls. All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me.

8 Yet Jehovah will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, even a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I will say to God my rock, Why have thou forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

10 As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me; while they continually say to me, Where is thy God?

11 Why are thou cast down, O my soul? And why are thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, the help of my countenance, and my God.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Psalm 42 express?
Psalm 42 expresses deep longing for God -- 'As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee' (v.1) -- while remembering past worship with joy (v.4) and repeatedly asking why the soul is 'cast down' (vv.5,11).
What does the refrain 'Why art thou cast down, O my soul?' mean?
It's repeated in verses 5 and 11 as the psalmist argues with his own despair, each time answering himself with 'hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him.'
What does verse 1 compare the soul's thirst to?
It compares longing for God to a deer panting for water brooks, a thirst for God similarly expressed in Psalms 63:1-2. See Psalms 42:1.

Today's Verse

then `wrote' Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions, the Dinaites, and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites,

Ezra 4:9 | ASV

Verse Of The Day

Twice the psalmist questions his own despair, asking "why art thou cast down, O my soul?" before choosing to hope in God despite waves and billows going over him. That same yearning reappears in Psalms 63:1-2; step back to Psalms 41 or forward to Psalms 43.