= Psalm 42 * Please see [[nsv:license|License]] for Copyright notice and Licensing information. * [ [[Psalm_41|Previous]] | [[Psalm_43|Next]] ] == Psalm 42 1 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 day time, 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. == Notes == Cross Reference == Concordance == Commentary == Rashi ==== Verse 1 of the sons of Korah Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaf. At first, they were in their father’s counsel, but at the time of the controversy they parted, and when all those around them were swallowed up, and the earth opened its mouth, their place was left within the mouth of the earth, as the matter that is stated (Num. 26:11): “But the sons of Korah did not die.” There they uttered a song, and there they composed these psalms. [Then] they ascended from there, and the holy spirit rested on them, whereupon they prophesied concerning the exiles, the destruction of the Temple, and the Davidic dynasty. ==== Verse 2 As a hart cries longingly for rivulets Heb. תערג. The expression of ערג applies to the voice of the hart as the expression of נהם, roaring, applies to a lion; שּׁקוק, growling, to a bear; געה, lowing, to oxen, and צפצוף chirping, to birds. [See Teshuvoth Dunash, p. 18.] Our Sages said: The hind is the most pious of the beasts. When the beasts are thirsty for water, they gather to her so that she should raise her eyes to heaven. And what does she do? She digs a pit and thrusts her antlers into it and lows. Thereupon, the Holy One, blessed be He, has compassion on her and the deep brings up water for her. As a hart cries longingly “As a hind cries longingly” is not stated, nor, “As a hart cries longingly (יערג) [in the masculine].” Only, “As a hart cries longingly.” Scripture speaks of [both] a male and a female. The male cries longingly for water, as we explained, and the female when she kneels to give birth, [because] her womb is narrow. [When] she cries out, the Holy One, blessed be He, is compassionate and prepares a serpent, which bites her on her birth canal, whereupon her womb opens. Menachem (p. 138) connects תערג with (Song 5:13): “His cheeks are like a bed of (כערוגת) spice,” but his view is impossible. Dunash (p. 18) too explained it as the sound of the hart. ==== Verse 3 when will I come and appear before God? to make the pilgrimages on the festivals. Here he prophesied concerning the destruction of the Temple. “Why are you downcast?” is stated here three times, corresponding to the three kingdoms destined to curtail the Temple service, and Israel will cry out and be redeemed: the kingdoms of Babylon, Greece, and Edom. My soul thirsts The people of Israel say this in the Babylonian exile. ==== Verse 4 My tears were my bread From here we derive that distress satiates a person, and he does not seek to eat. Similarly, Scripture states regarding Hannah (I Sam. 1:7): “and she wept and did not eat.” ==== Verse 5 These things I will remember, etc., how I passed on with the throng Pasoye in Old French. I remember this, and my soul pours out when I remember the festive pilgrimage, how I would pass on with the throngs of people and walk slowly with them until the House of God. סַךְ is an expression of a number. Another explanation: סַךְ is an expression of a human barrier. Another explanation: סַךְ is an expression of a covering and a booth, meaning covered wagons. סַךְ is an expression relating to צָב (Num. 7:3), “covered wagons” (עגלותצב). Covered like a booth, their name in the language of the Aggadah is סקפסטאות and אסקופיטי. I walked slowly with them I walked slowly with them, as (Shab. 128b): “We may make calves and foals walk (מדדים),” and, “A woman may make her child walk (מדדה). This word serves in place of two words: אדדה עמהם, I walked with them, etay amut semble in Old French, to move together. Menachem (p. 62) associated it as an expression of affection (ידידות), as (Jer. 12:7): “I have delivered My soul’s beloved (ידידות) into the hand of her enemies.” But Dunash (p. 27) interpreted אדדם as an expression of silence (דממה), and likewise (above 37:7): “Wait (דום) for the Lord, etc.” Accordingly, the interpretation of אדדם is: “I will be dumb,” and I was silent until I came to the House of God with shouts of joy, as (above 39:2): “I will guard my mouth [as though with] a muzzle, etc.” and as (above 38:14): “But I am like a deaf man, I do not hear, and like a mute, etc.” דם is the radical of אדדם. I would walk with them, as (Gen. 37:4): “And they could not speak with him in peace,” [equivalent to] לדבר עמו בשלום. a celebrating multitude who were going to celebrate, and on this the liturgical poet (in the morning service of Parashat Shekalim, in the Yotzer of [the prayer] “Ayleh Ezcherah”): “A vast celebrating multitude, flooding like a river.” According to the Midrash Aggadah (Mid. Ps. 42:4), it is Greek, because they call a pool of water “chogegin.” ==== Verse 6 are you downcast Heb. תשתוחחי, an expression of (below 44:26): “For our soul is cast down (שחה) to the dust.” When שַּׁח is used in the reflexive (מתפעל), the “tav” separates the radicals in the manner of every word whose root begins with “shin.” Hope Wait and look forward to the redemption. ==== Verse 7 I will remember You from the land of Jordan From what You did for us in the Jordan and the peaks of Hermon; after all the provocation with which we provoked You in Shittim, You dried the Jordan for us. from the young mountain From Mount Sinai, which is younger than other mountains; after we provoked You there with the episode of the [Golden] Calf, You forgave our iniquities and went with us. All these I remember in my exile, when You have refrained from doing good for me, and Your decrees are being renewed one after the other. ==== Verse 8 Deep calls to deep One trouble calls the next one. to the sound of Your water channels (Tes canals in Old French, canaux in modern French) which spray retribution upon me like flooding waters, until all Your breakers and waves have passed over me. “Your breakers” is an expression of the waves of the sea, because the waves of the sea ascend, break, and fall. ==== Verse 9 By day, may the Lord command His kindness May the light of the redemption come, and may the Lord command His kindness to us. and at night In the darkness of the exile and the troubles. may His resting place be with me Heb. שירה. May His resting place be in our midst. שּׁירה is an expression of camping, as we translate (II Sam. 17:26): “And Israel encamped,” וּשְּׁרָא. I learned this from the Great Masorah, which associates this [word] with (I Kings 5:12): “And his songs (שירו) were a thousand and five,” in the “aleph-beth” of two words with different meanings (homonyms). This taught [me] that this is not an expression of song, but the Midrash Aggadah does interpret it as an expression of song, interpreting in this manner: Israel says to the Holy One, blessed be He: “We remember what You did for us in Egypt. You commanded us one commandment by day on the eve of the Passover, and we observed it, and at night, You redeemed us and we sang Hallel before You. But now we keep many commandments, yet You do not redeem us. Because of this, I will say to God, my Rock, ‘Why have You forgotten me?’ “ ==== Verse 10 in gloom Heb. קדר, an expression of blackness, as (Micah 3:6): “and...shall be darkened (וקדר) about them.” ==== Verse 11 With murder in my bones, my oppressors have reproached me It seemed to me as though they were killing me, so confined within my bones was that with which my oppressors provoke and reproach me. ==== Verse 12 my countenance and my God The Holy One, the light of my countenance, my God—I still have hope in Him. Why, then, should you stir?