Psalms 42:11

11O my soul! why art thou cast down? This repetition shows us that David had not so completely overcome his temptations in one encounter, or by one extraordinary effort, as to render it unnecessary for him to enter anew into the same conflict. By this example, therefore, we are admonished, that although Satan, by his assaults, often subjects us to a renewal of the same trouble, we ought not to lose our courage, or allow ourselves to be cast down. The latter part of this verse differs from the fifth verse in one word, while in every other respect they agree. In the fifth verse, it is the helps of His countenance, but here we have the relative pronoun of the first person, thus, The helps of My countenance Perhaps in this place, the letter w, vau, which in the Hebrew language denotes the third person, is wanting. Still, as all the other versions agree in the reading which I have adopted, (125) David might, without any absurdity, call God by this designation, The helps or salvations of My countenance, inasmuch as he looked with confidence for a deliverance, manifest and certain, as if God should appear in a visible manner as his defender, and the protector of his welfare. There can, however, be no doubt, that in this place the term helps or salvations is to be viewed as an epithet applied to God; for immediately after it follows, and my God