Psalms 42:1-2

Book 2
(Psalms 42-72)

Psalm 42 ¹ 

For the music director; a well-written song ²  by the Korahites.

42:1 As a deer ³  longs ⁴  for streams of water,

so I long ⁵  for you, O God!

42:2 I thirst ⁶  for God,

for the living God.

I say, ⁷  “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?” ⁸ 

Psalms 63:1-2

Psalm 63 ⁹ 

A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness. ¹⁰ 

63:1 O God, you are my God! I long for you! ¹¹ 

My soul thirsts ¹²  for you,

my flesh yearns for you,

in a dry and parched ¹³  land where there is no water.

63:2 Yes, ¹⁴  in the sanctuary I have seen you, ¹⁵ 

and witnessed ¹⁶  your power and splendor.

Psalms 84:2

84:2 I desperately want to be ¹⁷ 

in the courts of the Lord’s temple. ¹⁸ 

My heart and my entire being ¹⁹  shout for joy

to the living God.

Psalms 107:9

107:9 For he has satisfied those who thirst, ²⁰ 

and those who hunger he has filled with food. ²¹ 

Amos 8:11-13

8:11 Be certain of this, ²²  the time is ²³  coming,” says the sovereign Lord,

“when I will send a famine through the land –

not a shortage of food or water

but an end to divine revelation! ²⁴ 

8:12 People ²⁵  will stagger from sea to sea, ²⁶ 

and from the north around to the east.

They will wander about looking for a revelation from ²⁷  the Lord,

but they will not find any. ²⁸ 

8:13 In that day your ²⁹  beautiful young women ³⁰  and your ³¹  young men will faint from thirst. ³² 

Luke 1:53

1:53 he has filled the hungry with good things, ³³  and has sent the rich away empty. ³⁴ 

Luke 6:21

6:21 “Blessed are you who hunger ³⁵  now, for you will be satisfied. ³⁶ 

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. ³⁷ 

Luke 6:25

6:25 “Woe to you who are well satisfied with food ³⁸  now, for you will be hungry.

“Woe to you ³⁹  who laugh ⁴⁰  now, for you will mourn and weep.

John 6:27

6:27 Do not work for the food that disappears, ⁴¹  but for the food that remains to eternal life – the food ⁴²  which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.” ⁴³ 

[42:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 42. The psalmist recalls how he once worshiped in the Lord’s temple, but laments that he is now oppressed by enemies in a foreign land. Some medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalms 42 and 43 into a single psalm.

[42:1]  ² tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[42:1]  ³ tn Since the accompanying verb is feminine in form, the noun אָיִּל (’ayyil, “male deer”) should be emended to אַיֶּלֶת (’ayyelet, “female deer”). Haplography of the letter tav has occurred; note that the following verb begins with tav.

[42:1]  ⁴ tn Or “pants [with thirst].”

[42:1]  ⁵ tn Or “my soul pants [with thirst].” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[42:2]  ⁶ tn Or “my soul thirsts.”

[42:2]  ⁷ tn The words “I say” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

[42:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “When will I go and appear [to] the face of God?” Some emend the Niphal verbal form אֵרָאֶה (’era’eh, “I will appear”) to a Qal אֶרְאֶה (’er’eh, “I will see”; see Gen 33:10), but the Niphal can be retained if one understands ellipsis of אֶת (’et) before “face” (see Exod 34:24; Deut 31:11).

[63:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 63. The psalmist expresses his intense desire to be in God’s presence and confidently affirms that God will judge his enemies.

[63:1]  ¹⁰ sn According to the psalm superscription David wrote the psalm while in the “wilderness of Judah.” Perhaps this refers to the period described in 1 Sam 23-24 or to the incident mentioned in 2 Sam 15:23.

[63:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “I will seek you.”

[63:1]  ¹² tn Or “I thirst.”

[63:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” This may picture the land as “faint” or “weary,” or it may allude to the effect this dry desert has on those who are forced to live in it.

[63:2]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew particle כֵּן (ken) is used here to stress the following affirmation (see Josh 2:4).

[63:2]  ¹⁵ tn The perfect verbal form is understood here as referring to a past experience which the psalmist desires to be repeated. Another option is to take the perfect as indicating the psalmist’s certitude that he will again stand in God’s presence in the sanctuary. In this case one can translate, “I will see you.”

[63:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “seeing.” The preposition with the infinitive construct here indicates an accompanying circumstance.

[84:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “my soul longs, it even pines for.”

[84:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the courts of the Lord” (see Ps 65:4).

[84:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “my flesh,” which stands for his whole person and being.

[107:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “[the] longing throat.” The noun נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh), which frequently refers to one’s very being or soul, here probably refers to one’s parched “throat” (note the parallelism with נֶפֱשׁ רְעֵבָה, nefesh rÿ’evah, “hungry throat”).

[107:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “and [the] hungry throat he has filled [with] good.”

[8:11]  ²² tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[8:11]  ²³ tn Heb “the days are.”

[8:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “not a hunger for food or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the Lord.”

[8:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:12]  ²⁶ tn That is, from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Dead Sea in the east – that is, across the whole land.

[8:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “looking for the word of.”

[8:12]  ²⁸ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the.”

[8:13]  ³⁰ tn Or “virgins.”

[8:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “the.”

[8:13]  ³² tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[1:53]  ³³ sn Good things refers not merely to material blessings, but blessings that come from knowing God.

[1:53]  ³⁴ sn Another fundamental contrast of Luke’s is between the hungry and the rich (Luke 6:20-26).

[6:21]  ³⁵ sn You who hunger are people like the poor Jesus has already mentioned. The term has OT roots both in conjunction with the poor (Isa 32:6-7; 58:6-7, 9-10; Ezek 18:7, 16) or by itself (Ps 37:16-19; 107:9).

[6:21]  ³⁶ sn The promise you will be satisfied is the first of several “reversals” noted in these promises. The beatitudes and the reversals that accompany them serve in the sermon as an invitation to enter into God’s care, because one can know God cares for those who turn to him.

[6:21]  ³⁷ sn You will laugh alludes to the joy that comes to God’s people in the salvation to come.

[6:25]  ³⁸ tn Grk “who are filled.” See L&N 23.18 for the translation “well satisfied with food.”

[6:25]  ³⁹ tc The wording “to you” (ὑμῖν, Jumin) is lacking in several witnesses (א B K L T W Θ Ξ 0147 Ë^1,13 579 700 892 1241 2542 al), though found in most (Ì⁷⁵ A D Q Ψ 33 Ï lat co). The longer reading looks to be a clarifying addition; nevertheless, “to you” is included in the translation because of English requirements.

[6:25]  ⁴⁰ sn That is, laugh with happiness and joy.

[6:27]  ⁴¹ tn Or “perishes” (this might refer to spoiling, but is more focused on the temporary nature of this kind of food).

[6:27]  ⁴² tn The referent (the food) has been specified for clarity by repeating the word “food” from the previous clause.

[6:27]  ⁴³ tn Grk “on this one.”