PSALM 42

Thirsting for God in Trouble and Exile.

For the choir director. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.

1
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for You, 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} say to me all day long, “Where is your God? 4
These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go along with the throng {and} lead them in procession to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.

 5
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And {why} have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
{For} the help of His presence. 6
O my God, my soul is in despair within me;
Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan
And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. 7
Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me. 8
The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life.

 9
I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 10
As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God? 11
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.