Psalms

The Psalter is Israel’s hymnbook: lament, praise, thanksgiving, royal psalms, and wisdom. It trains the heart to speak to God in trouble and in joy, and it points ahead to the Messiah.

Author: David and others
Date: c. 1400–400 BC
Theme: Prayers and songs for every season of the life of faith.
Key verses: Psalm 23; Psalm 51; Psalm 119:105
American Standard Version

Psalms 42

1For the Chief Musician. Maschil of the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, So panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: When shall I come and appear before God? 3My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? 4These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, How I went with the throng, and led them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping holyday. 5Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And [why] art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him [For] the help of his countenance. 6O my God, my soul is cast down within me: Therefore do I remember thee from the land of the Jordan, And the Hermons, from the hill Mizar. 7Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterfalls: All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. 8[Yet] Jehovah will command his lovingkindness in the day-time; And in the night his song shall be with me, [Even] a prayer unto the God of my life. 9I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 10As with a sword in my bones, mine adversaries reproach me, While they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? 11Why 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 help of my countenance, and my God.

American Standard Version (1901). Copyright expired. Public domain.