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Psalm 42 – English Standard Version (ESV)

Book Two

Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?

Psa 42:1

Psa 42:1To the choirmaster. A Maskil[fn] of the Sons of Korah.
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.

Psa 42:2

Psa 42:2My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?[fn]

Psa 42:3

Psa 42:3My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”

Psa 42:4

Psa 42:4These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.

Psa 42:5

Psa 42:5Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation[fn]

Psa 42:6

Psa 42:6and my God.
My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.

Psa 42:7

Psa 42:7Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.

Psa 42:8

Psa 42:8By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

Psa 42:9

Psa 42:9I say to God, my rock:
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”

Psa 42:10

Psa 42:10As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”

Psa 42:11

Psa 42:11Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
ESV Footnotes
Probably a musical or liturgical term
Revocalization yields and see the face of God
Hebrew the salvation of my face; also verse 11 and 43:5
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016, 2025 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

Psalm Chapter 42 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Open New Arabic Version Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

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