Psalms 42:2

thirsteth Cp. Psalms 63:1; Amos 8:11-13. God, who is the living God, in contrast to dead impotent idols, is "the fountain of living waters" (Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 17:13). With Him is "the fountain of life," and He gives men drink from the stream of His delights (Psalms 36:8-9). The phrase for -living God" (El chay) is found elsewhere only in Joshua 3:10; Psalms 84:2; Hosea 1:10. In Deu 5:26; 1 Samuel 17:26; 1 Samuel 17:36; 2Ki 19:4; 2 Kings 19:16 (Isaiah 37:4; Isaiah 37:17); Jeremiah 10:10; Jeremiah 23:36; the Heb. word for God is Elôhim.

appear before God The regular formula for the stated visits to the Temple at the three great Festivals (Exodus 23:17; Psalms 84:7). Grammatical considerations however make it probable that here and in some other passages (e.g. Exodus 23:15; Exodus 34:20; Deuteronomy 31:11; Isaiah 1:12) we should read, by a simple change of the vowel-points, see the face of God. The usual phrase for admission to the presence of a superior (Genesis 43:3) was applied to visiting the sanctuary; but since man cannot literally see God(Exodus 33:20), it was supplemented by the synonymous phrase appear before God, which came to be generally adopted as more seemly in the traditional method of reading the consonantal text. But cp. Psalms 11:7 note; Psalms 17:15; Psalms 63:2.