One thin doe with her head low over a last dark pool in a dry stony wadi, cracked mud and dry reeds around it, under a pale empty sky.

Lament · Sons of Korah

Psalm 42

What to pray when you miss God and people keep asking where He is.

11 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1–41Book IDavid's prayers: 'The LORD is my shepherd'
42–72Book II'As the deer pants'; the throne under pressurePsalm 42
73–89Book IIIAsaph and Korah: the kingdom falls
90–106Book IVBack to Moses: the LORD reigns
107–150Book VSongs of ascents, and the last Hallelujah

As the Deer Pants for the Water

For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah.

As the deer pants for streams of water,

so my soul longs after You, O God.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

My soul thirsts for God, the living God.

When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?

My tears have been my food

both day and night,

while men ask me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

A joyful crowd of Israelite men and women on a dusty road playing small wooden lyres, an upright harp, round frame drums, bronze rattles and small cymbals, with the ark far ahead and small.

These things come to mind as I pour out my soul:

how I walked with the multitude,

leading the festive procession to the house of God

with shouts of joy and praise.

Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why the unease within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him

for the salvation of His presence.

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

How far from home

The writer is in the far north, with the temple days away. Nobody knows where Mount Mizar was.

The long snowy ridge of Mount Hermon above a green valley in spring, springs and oak trees at its foot.

O my God, my soul despairs within me.

Therefore I remember You

from the land of Jordan and the peaks of Hermon—

even from Mount Mizar.

Snowmelt crashing down a narrow black basalt gorge into a churning pool, spray hanging in the deep shade.

Deep calls to deep

in the roar of Your waterfalls;

all Your breakers and waves

have rolled over me.

The LORD decrees His loving devotion by day,

and at night His song is with me

as a prayer to the God of my life.

0:14

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

I say to God my Rock,

“Why have You forgotten me?

Why must I walk in sorrow

because of the enemy’s oppression?”

Like the crushing of my bones,

my enemies taunt me,

while they say to me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why the unease within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him,

my Savior and my God.

Pray

Say it to yourself

Tell God what you miss most about being near Him. Name it plainly. Then say to your own soul what he said to his: “Put your hope in God.”

You’ve experienced

Psalm 42

0 of 150 psalms read

A verse to carry with you

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God.

Psalm 42:1

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