A little time with Scripture.
SCRIPTURE READER

Psalms 42:5-11

World English Bible · Public domain

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Psalms 42:5-11

5Why 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.

6My 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.

7Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.

8The LORD 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.

9I will ask God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

10As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”

11Why 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.

World English Bible (WEB). Public-domain translation. Publisher: eBible.org. Local WEB chapter text; additional external requests use bible-api.com.

A few questions for reading in context
  • Who is speaking, and to whom?
  • What is happening before and after this passage?
  • What kind of writing is this—poetry, narrative, letter, or another form?
  • What does the passage say before I consider how to apply it?