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
42:11 Why are you depressed, 5 O my soul? 6
Why are you upset? 7
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention. 8
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.
5 tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”
6 sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.
7 tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”
8 tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of my face and my God.” The last line should be emended to read יְשׁוּעֹת פְנֵי אֱלֹהָי (yÿshu’ot fÿney ’elohay, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God”), that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention. This refrain is almost identical to the one in v. 5. See also Ps 43:5.