Psalms 42:5

Why are you depressed, ¹  O my soul? ²  Why are you upset? ³  Wait for God! For I will again give thanks to my God for his saving intervention. ⁴ 

Nu 6:26; 1Sa 30:6; Job 13:15; Ps 27:13,14; Ps 35:14; Ps 37:7; Ps 42:11; Ps 43:5; Ps 44:3; Ps 55:4,5; Ps 56:3,11; Ps 61:2; Ps 71:14; Ps 91:15,16; Ps 142:2,3; Ps 143:3,4; Isa 50:10; La 3:24-26; Mt 1:23; Mt 28:20; Mr 14:33,34; Ro 4:18-20; Heb 10:36,37

¹ tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

² sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

³ tn Heb “and [why] are you in turmoil upon me?” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries on the descriptive present nuance of the preceding imperfect. See GKC 329 §111.t.

⁴ tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of his face.” The verse division in the Hebrew text is incorrect. אֱלֹהַי (’elohay, “my God”) at the beginning of v. 7 belongs with the end of v. 6 (see the corresponding refrains in 42:11 and 43:5, both of which end with “my God” after “saving acts of my face”). The Hebrew term פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”) should be emended to פְּנֵי (pÿney, “face of”). The emended text reads, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God,” that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention.