9 I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
I am pained and bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
For thou art the God of my strength; why hast thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
Remember, O Jehovah, what is come upon us: Behold, and see our reproach. Our inheritance is turned unto strangers, Our houses unto aliens. We are orphans and fatherless; Our mothers are as widows. We have drunken our water for money; Our wood is sold unto us. Our pursuers are upon our necks: We are weary, and have no rest. We have given the hand to the Egyptians, And to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. Our fathers sinned, and are not; And we have borne their iniquities. Servants rule over us: There is none to deliver us out of their hand. We get our bread at the peril of our lives, Because of the sword of the wilderness. Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine. They ravished the women in Zion, The virgins in the cities of Judah. Princes were hanged up by their hand: The faces of elders were not honored. The young men bare the mill; And the children stumbled under the wood. The elders have ceased from the gate, The young men from their music. The joy of our heart is ceased; Our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head: Woe unto us! for we have sinned.
Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the oppression of the wicked; For they cast iniquity upon me, And in anger they persecute me.
When I looked for good, then evil came; And when I waited for light, there came darkness. My heart is troubled, and resteth not; Days of affliction are come upon me. I go mourning without the sun: I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help. I am a brother to jackals, And a companion to ostriches. My skin is black, `and falleth' from me, And my bones are burned with heat. Therefore is my harp `turned' to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of them that weep.
Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and, behold, the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, these may forget, yet will not I forget thee.
How long, O Jehovah? wilt thou forget me for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
Mine eye wasteth away by reason of affliction: I have called daily upon thee, O Jehovah; I have spread forth my hands unto thee.
Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah
He only is my rock and my salvation: `He is' my high tower; I shall not be moved. With God is my salvation and my glory: The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise, cast `us' not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, And forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
Unto thee, O Jehovah, will I call: My rock, be not thou deaf unto me; Lest, if thou be silent unto me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 42
Commentary on Psalms 42 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 42
Ps 42:1-11. Maschil—(See on Ps 32:1, title). For, or of (see Introduction) the sons of Korah. The writer, perhaps one of this Levitical family of singers accompanying David in exile, mourns his absence from the sanctuary, a cause of grief aggravated by the taunts of enemies, and is comforted in hopes of relief. This course of thought is repeated with some variety of detail, but closing with the same refrain.
1, 2. Compare (Ps 63:1).
panteth—desires in a state of exhaustion.
2. appear before God—in acts of worship, the terms used in the command for the stated personal appearance of the Jews at the sanctuary.
3. Where is thy God?—implying that He had forsaken him (compare 2Sa 16:7; Ps 3:2; 22:8).
4. The verbs are properly rendered as futures, "I will remember," &c.,—that is, the recollection of this season of distress will give greater zest to the privileges of God's worship, when obtained.
5. Hence he chides his despondent soul, assuring himself of a time of joy.
help of his countenance—or, "face" (compare Nu 6:25; Ps 4:6; 16:11).
6. Dejection again described.
therefore—that is, finding no comfort in myself, I turn to Thee, even in this distant "land of Jordan and the (mountains) Hermon, the country east of Jordan.
hill Mizar—as a name of a small hill contrasted with the mountains round about Jerusalem, perhaps denoted the contempt with which the place of exile was regarded.
7. The roar of successive billows, responding to that of floods of rain, represented the heavy waves of sorrow which overwhelmed him.
8. Still he relies on as constant a flow of divine mercy which will elicit his praise and encourage his prayer to God.
9, 10. in view of which [Ps 42:8], he dictates to himself a prayer based on his distress, aggravated as it was by the cruel taunts and infidel suggestions of his foes.
11. This brings on a renewed self-chiding, and excites hopes of relief.
health—or help.
of my countenance—(compare Ps 42:5) who cheers me, driving away clouds of sorrow from my face.
my God—It is He of whose existence and favor my foes would have me doubt.