Psalm 42-43

Easy-to-Read Version

Book 2

(Psalms 42-72)

To the director: A maskil from the Korah family.

42 Like a deer drinking from a stream,
    I reach out to you, my God.^[a]
²My soul thirsts for the living God.
    When can I go to meet with him?
³Instead of food, I have only tears day and night,
    as my enemies laugh at me and say, “Where is your God?”

⁴My heart breaks as I remember the pleasant times in the past,
when I walked with the crowds as I led them up to God’s Temple.
I remember the happy songs of praise
as they celebrated the festival.

^5-6Why am I so sad?
    Why am I so upset?
I tell myself, “Wait for God’s help!
    You will again be able to praise him,
    your God, the one who will save you.”
In my sadness I say, “I will remember you from here on this small hill,^[b]
    where Mount Hermon and the Jordan River meet.”
⁷I hear the roar of the water coming from deep within the earth.
    It shouts to the water below as it tumbles down the waterfall.
God, your waves come one after another,
    crashing all around and over me.^[c]

⁸By day the Lord shows his faithful love,
    and at night I have a song for him—a prayer for the God of my life.^[d]
⁹I say to God, my Rock,
    “Why have you forgotten me?
    Why must I suffer this sadness that my enemies have brought me?”
¹⁰Their constant insults are killing me.
    They never stop asking, “Where is your God?”

¹¹Why am I so sad?
    Why am I so upset?
I tell myself, “Wait for God’s help!
    You will again be able to praise him,
    your God, the one who will save you.”

43 Defend me, God.
    Argue my case against those people who don’t know you.
    Protect me from those evil liars.
²God, you are my place of safety.
    Why have you turned me away?
Why must I suffer this sadness
    that my enemies have brought me?
³Send your light and your truth to guide me,
    to lead me to your holy mountain, to your home.
⁴I want to go to God’s altar,
    to the God who makes me so very happy.
God, my God, I want to play my harp
    and sing praises to you!

⁵Why am I so sad?
    Why am I so upset?
I tell myself, “Wait for God’s help!
    You will again have a chance to praise him,
    your God, the one who will save you.”

Footnotes

Psalm 42:1 Or “As a deer stretches out to drink water from a stream, so my soul thirsts for you, God.”
Psalm 42:5 small hill Or “Mount Mizar.”
Psalm 42:7 God, your waves … over me These word pictures describe the psalmist’s feelings about the many troubles the Lord has allowed him to experience.
Psalm 42:8 the God of my life Or “my living God.”