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Book of Psalms


Psalm 42

To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah

King James Version

1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.
5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in 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 will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
8 Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.
9 I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
10 As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?
11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.1

References and notes
1. King James Authorized Version
2. CLARKE'S COMMENTARY - PSALMS 42 - http:// www.god rules.net /library /clarke/ clarke psa42.htm
3. John Gill's Exposition of the Bible - http:// www.eword today.com /comments /psalm/ gill/ psalm42 .htm
4. Seventh-day Bible Commentary - Vol. 3 pg. 735

SONG PREVIEW

Click on image for song preview of Psalm 42. The music was composed in 2009. The song features on the CD Variety Album Vol. 2.

 

TITLE

To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah The word lyk m maskil, from lk sakal, signifies to make wise, to direct wisely, to give instruction; and here is so understood by our translators, who have left this signification in the margin; and so the Versions in general.2



KORAH

Korah was he who was at the head of a conspiracy against Moses and Aaron, for which sin the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed alive him and his company, and fire devoured two hundred and fifty more; the history of which is recorded in Numbers 16:1; yet all his posterity were not cut off, Numbers 26:11; some were in David's time porters, or keepers of the gates of the tabernacle, and some were singers; see 1 Chronicles 6:33; and to the chief musician was this psalm directed for them to sing, for they were not the authors of it, as some {b} have thought; but most probably David himself composed it; and it seems to have been written by him when he was persecuted by Saul, and driven out by men from abiding in the Lord's inheritance, and was in a strange land among the Heathen, where he was reproached by them; and everything in this psalm agrees with his state and condition; or rather when he fled from his son Absalom, and was in those parts beyond Jordan, mentioned in this psalm; see 2 Samuel 17:24; so the Syriac inscription, the song which David sung in the time of his persecution, desiring to return to Jerusalem.3



DIVISION

Psalm 42 is a pathetic lament of David, a hunted fugitive, finding refuge in the rocks and caves of the wilderness, exiled from the house of God, where he had found his joy in participating in the holy services. The form of the psalm is exquisite, consisting of two sections of similar length, each followed by the refrain found first in v. 5 and then in v. 11 (and a third time in Ps. 43:5).4

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