Psalms 42:1-11

Psalms 42, 43. Originally these two Pss. were one. This is proved by the long refrain common to each, Why art thou cast down, O my soul, etc. It recurs in Psalms 42:5; Psalms 42:11 and Psalms 43:5, and thus divides the Ps. into fairly equal portions. The theme, moreover, is the same in both, and Psalms 43 is an orphan Ps. (p. 366), i.e. it has no title, because it did not originally rank as an independent poem.

Psalms 42:1. The misery of exile from the Temple and the memory of happy worship there. Psalms 42:1. For hart read with many scholars hind. Grammar requires a feminine subject.

Psalms 42:2. Read by a change in the pointing, and see God. Probably the other reading, appear before God, is due to fear of anthropomorphism.

Psalms 42:4. The rendering led them presupposes a slight correction of the Heb. text, and even then the meaning is doubtful.

Psalms 42:6. The poet lives far north, below the peaks of Hermon (notice the plural form) and near Mizar. Nothing is known of the last mountain. The evil is aggravated by the winter floods and by the fierce hatred of his enemies. Several cataracts would be audible at one place, so that they seemed to answer each other.

Psalms 42:8 appears to be out of harmony with the context; the insertion of yet (8) is illegitimate.

Psalms 42:10. Render crushing (mg.).