1 To the Overseer. -- An Instruction. By sons of Korah. As a hart doth pant for streams of water, So my soul panteth toward Thee, O God.
2 My soul thirsted for God, for the living God, When do I enter and see the face of God?
3 My tear hath been to me bread day and night, In their saying unto me all the day, `Where `is' thy God?'
4 These I remember, and pour out my soul in me, For I pass over into the booth, I go softly with them unto the house of God, With the voice of singing and confession, The multitude keeping feast!
5 What! bowest thou thyself, O my soul? Yea, art thou troubled within me? Wait for God, for still I confess Him: The salvation of my countenance -- My God!
6 In me doth my soul bow itself, Therefore I remember Thee from the land of Jordan, And of the Hermons, from the hill Mizar.
7 Deep unto deep is calling At the noise of Thy water-spouts, All Thy breakers and Thy billows passed over me.
8 By day Jehovah commandeth His kindness, And by night a song `is' with me, A prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God my rock, `Why hast Thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning in the oppression of an enemy?
10 With a sword in my bones Have mine adversaries reproached me, In their saying unto me all the day, `Where `is' thy God?'
11 What! bowest thou thyself, O my soul? And what! art thou troubled within me? Wait for God, for still I confess Him, The salvation of my countenance, and my God!
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Psalm 42 express?
What does the refrain 'Why art thou cast down, O my soul?' mean?
What does verse 1 compare the soul's thirst to?
Today's Verse
He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony, When he went out over the land of Egypt, `Where' I heard a language that I knew not.
Verse Of The DayTwice 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.
