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Psalm 42:9-11

World English Bible

I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?” Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.

In the King James Version

I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

What was happening around this

The unnamed psalmist speaks to God (“my rock”) and to his own soul; adversaries are reported as asking, “Where is your God?” The immediate setting includes remembered geography—Jordan, Hermon, and Mizar—in v. 6 and the watery imagery of v. 7; the self-address in v. 11 repeats the refrain already used in v. 5. The text gives no identifiable historical event or named audience for the speaker.

The verses on either side

Psalm 42, verses either side, World English Bible

  1. My God, my soul is in despair within me. Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.
  2. Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.
  3. Yahweh will command his loving kindness in the daytime. In the night his song shall be with me: a prayer to the God of my life.
  4. I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
  5. As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
  6. Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.

Where this comes up

  • Grief that comes back months later

    Why grief returns in the later months, what Cruse and Marie Curie say about the second year, and a psalm that asks the same question four times over.

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