Discovery BoxPsalms 42:9 
Context42:9 I will pray 1 to God, my high ridge: 2
“Why do you ignore 3 me?
Why must I walk around mourning 4
because my enemies oppress me?”
Psalms 43:2
Context43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. 5
Why do you reject me? 6
Why must I walk around 7 mourning 8
because my enemies oppress me?
1 tn The cohortative form indicates the psalmist’s resolve.
2 tn This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28; Pss 18:2; 31:3.
3 tn Or “forget.”
4 sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar idea.
5 tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.
6 tn The question is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but זָנַח (zanakh, “reject”) is a stronger verb than שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”).
7 tn The language is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but the Hitpael form of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh; as opposed to the Qal form in 42:9) expresses more forcefully the continuing nature of the psalmist’s distress.
8 sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.
