Psalms 42:9

I will say Or, Let me say, the tense (voluntative, as in Psalms 42:4) emphatically expressing his resolution.

my rock The word, lit. my cliffor crag(sela), is used of God as a refuge only in Psalms 18:2 (2 Samuel 22:2); Psalms 31:3 (=Psalms 71:3). On the more common word for rock(tsûr) see note on Psalms 18:2 (A.V. my strength).

The original edition of the A.V. (1611) has unto God, My rock, why; treating my rockas a vocative, with LXX and Jerome. Editions of 1612 and 1630 have God, my rock, why: and the usual punctuation God my rock, Whyappears to have been introduced in editions of 1629, 1638. See Scrivener, Authorised Ed. of the English Bible, p. 165.

Why&c. Not a demand for explanation, but the expostulation of perplexity. Cp. Psalms 13:1; Psalms 22:1; Psalms 77:9; Psalms 88:14.

mourning Cp. Psalms 35:14; Psalms 38:6; Job 30:28.

because of the oppression of the enemy Or, as R.V. marg. (cp. P.B.V.), while the enemy oppresseth. The substantive occurs in the Psalter only here and in Psalms 43:2; Psalms 44:24; the verb only in Psalms 56:1; Psalms 106:42. Both are used elsewhere, especially of the oppression of Israel by foreign invaders (Judges 2:18; 1Sa 10:18; 2 Kings 13:4; Amos 6:14; &c.).