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BOOK 19 OF 66 · WISDOM & POETRY · KING JAMES BIBLE

Psalms 42

Psalms book home•Chapter 42 of 150•11 verses
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REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Psalms 42 Overview

The sons of Korah picture longing for God like a deer for water, recall former worship, feel overwhelmed, and repeatedly command the downcast soul to hope in God.

PsalmsBook
42Chapter
11Verses
PoetryDivision

Before you read Psalms 42

Coming from

Psalm 41 centered on care for the weak, sickness, and betrayal by a close companion. Psalms is an anthology rather than a continuous chronological story, so the connection here is canonical and thematic.

In this chapter

The sons of Korah picture longing for God like a deer for water, recall former worship, feel overwhelmed, and repeatedly command the downcast soul to hope in God.

Leads into

Psalm 43 turns to prayer for light and truth while the soul is cast down, continuing the Psalter’s arranged movement without requiring that the two psalms describe consecutive historical events.

Key understandingExplore deeper

Psalm 42 belongs to Book II of the Psalter (Psalms 42–72). Psalm 42 begins Book II of the Psalter and flows directly into Psalm 43 through the repeated refrain “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” Its position opens Book II, so its themes contribute to a new major section of the Psalter.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Central truth

A thirsty soul speaks hope to itself in spiritual depression.

Lament truth

In Psalm 42, biblical faith brings grief, fear, confusion, and need directly to God rather than hiding them.

Trust truth

In Psalm 42, confidence in God rests on His character and rule, not on the absence of danger.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Lament connection

Lamentations 3 shows the same biblical freedom to bring profound affliction before God while still remembering hope. This connection helps frame Psalm 42.

Trust connection

1 Peter 5:7 calls believers to cast their care upon God because He cares for them. This connection helps frame Psalm 42.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep lament in context

Do not mistake every anguished sentence in Psalm 42 for the psalmist’s settled theological conclusion; lament often voices how the crisis feels before faith answers it.

Keep trust in context

Trust in Psalm 42 is not a promise of immunity from suffering or death; it is confidence in God through the danger.

Read Psalms 42 watching for…

hart and water.

tears day and night.

remember processions.

deep calleth unto deep.

hope refrain.

TWBC REVIEW STANDARD

Plain language. Scripture first. Fact distinguished from inference. No filler. No fake certainty. Designed to help you read the Bible itself.

Chapter outline2 sections
1-5The soul thirsts for God while tears and memories deepen the longing6-11The cast-down soul remembers God and repeatedly calls itself to hope in him
1

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