Psalm 42
New Living Translation
Chapter overview
Psalm 42 compares spiritual longing to a deer's thirst in dry country. Tears, taunts, remembered festivals, roaring waterfalls, and inner turmoil are repeatedly answered by the soul's call to hope and praise again.
LongingExileLamentHope
1As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.
2I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before him?
3Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, “Where is this God of yours?”
4My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be: I walked among the crowds of worshipers, leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration!
5Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and
6my God! Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you— even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar.
7I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.
8But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life.
9“O God my rock,” I cry, “why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?”
10Their taunts break my bones. They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”
11Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!
Verses to memorize from Psalm 42
- Psalm 42:5Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in…
- Psalm 42:11Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in…
New Living Translation — Licensed through API.Bible, non-commercial use only, no derivatives. Where these translations come from.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Text unchanged, provided through API.Bible.