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Thirsting for God: Psalm 42

Mon, 2009-03-16 11:13 — Brad

World English Bible (WEB) Translation

  1. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God. 
  2. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
  3. My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
  4. These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, how I used to go with the crowd, and led them to God’s house, with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping a holy day.
  5. Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him for the saving help of his presence.
  6. 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.
  7. Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.
  8. 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.
  9. I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
  10. As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
  11. 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.

A Dynamic Translation From Hebrew

  1. Like a roofer in August, like a dog in a car, I pant for God.
  2. Living God! Heart and soul, I thirst for you. I want to soak in you. How long until we meet face-to-face?
  3. Lately I live off tears. I sip them from a dusty cup. Voices echo, inside and out, "Where did you say your God was? Are you that gullible?"
  4. My heart leaks, but deep inside I remember a different life, a different time. Your people could find each other then. They gathered, jubilant, resolute, victorious. And I was right there.
  5. So what happened? How did I end up face down in the dirt? Why is my soul so low? Whatever the reason, I'm still going to praise you. You saved me before; you'll save me again.
  6. When my soul sinks, I remember Lake Michigan, Niagara, or the ocean. I picture big water.
  7. Your depths call to my depths. Like waves they wash me with this knowledge:
  8. You never fail. Your love, your hesed, never fails. You send it like sunrise every day, like starsong every night.
  9. I may gripe, "Why did you forget me? Why do I cry so much?
  10. Why do I ache to the bone while vultures taunt, 'God has left you for good.'"
  11. Why? I don't know. But I know this: even when I can't look myself in the face, you can. You lift my head. You Jesus my face. You make me whole and human, time and again, Maker Mine.

Your Imagery

Stop and fill in this first, like  Mad-Lib:

  1. A thirsty  person or animal:
  2. The friend you miss most:
  3. Something you wouldn't like to drink:
  4. Something that leaks:
  5. Image of humiliation:
  6. An impressive body of water:
  7. Something you hear there or at the ocean:
  8. Something good that happens every day or night.
  9. Image of crying:
  10. Image of crushing:
  11. Image of setting free:

Your Translation

  1. Like #1, I thirst for you, God.
  2. I miss you more than #2. When will we meet face to face.
  3. Until then it's like drinking #3 in a room full of people who tell me you've left forever.
  4. My soul pours out like #4. But I remember when I felt connect to you and your people.
  5. I feel like #5. But I'm still going to praise you.
  6. In my mind, I stand by #6.
  7. And your heart calls to mine like #7 from the ocean.
  8. You remind me that your love never abandons. It's like #8.
  9. I may feel like #9. I may complain, "Why me?
  10. Why does my heart feel like #10? Why do doubts surround me?"
  11. But you set my soul free like #11.

This reflection prepared for March 22, 2009 by Brad. During Lent 2009 I reflected on Psalm 42. After memorizing parts of it in English, I wanted to check out the Hebrew, which I found absolutely astounding. As with most Scripture I've sat with awhile, the most succinct way to express what I've learned is with my own, very fallible, very loose, translation.

Visualize: Thirst, Deep, Face.

A few comments...

Verse 1, really, I think the original image of a dear by streams is beautiful, but it doesn't speak to me of thirst like it would to a Hebrew hunter. Maybe if I chased deerish animals through the desert that image would work for me. What I think we want here is an image of primal, even animal, thirst. I think of my dog beelining for the water bowl after a summer walk. He won't be dissuaded

Verses 7-8, most commentators read the waves and waters as symbols of trouble, as in the hymn, It is Well With My Soul. But I think it is a symbol of "subterranean" comfort. "Deep calls out to deep," the Hebrew says, and what does it speak of: Hesed, steadfast-lovingkindness. Moreover, what's the symbol of trouble and lack in this psalm: thirst. It only makes sense that water is comfort.

Verse 11, in general, I think using nouns as verbs is way too hip (like, "Don't guilt me.") But in Hebrew the relationship betwen nouns and verbs is much more intimate, and I wanted to capture the sense that in Hebrew "saves" the exact verb that the name "Jesus/Savior" comes from: Yeshua = Lead To Freedom = Save = Joshua = Jesus. But also note that "save face" is an idiom of identity in Hebrew, not appearance as it is in English. This isn't about a God who saves our faces as in saves us from embarassment, but who restores our face when woe bleeds our features like watercolors in the rain.