Psalm 42–43

BOOK II

(Psalms 42–72)

Psalm 42

LONGING FOR GOD

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

¹As a deer longs for flowing streams,

so I long for you, God.^w

²I thirst for God, the living God.

When can I come and appear before God?^x

³My tears have been my food day and night,

while all day long people say to me,

“Where is your God?”^y

⁴I remember this as I pour out my heart:^z

how I walked with many,

leading the festive procession to the house of God,

with joyful and thankful shouts.^aa

⁵Why, my soul, are you so dejected?

Why are you in such turmoil?

Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him,

my Savior and my God.^ab

⁶I am deeply depressed;

therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan

and the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.^ac

⁷Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls;

all your breakers and your billows have swept over me.^a

⁸The Lord will send his faithful love by day;^b

his song will be with me in the night—

a prayer to the God of my life.

⁹I will say to God, my rock,^c

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why must I go about in sorrow

because of the enemy’s oppression?”^d

¹⁰My adversaries taunt me,

as if crushing my bones,

while all day long they say to me,

“Where is your God?”^e

¹¹Why, my soul, are you so dejected?

Why are you in such turmoil?

Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him,

my Savior and my God.^f

Psalm 43

¹Vindicate me, God, and champion my cause

against an unfaithful nation;

rescue me from the deceitful and unjust person.^g

²For you are the God of my refuge.

Why have you rejected me?

Why must I go about in sorrow

because of the enemy’s oppression?^h

³Send your light and your truth; let them lead me.ⁱ

Let them bring me to your holy mountain,

to your dwelling place.^j

⁴Then I will come to the altar of God,

to God, my greatest joy.^k

I will praise you with the lyre,

God, my God.^l

⁵Why, my soul, are you so dejected?

Why are you in such turmoil?

Put your hope in God, for I will still praise him,

my Savior and my God.^m