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PSALM 42

To him that presides; instruction for the sons of Korah.

1. As the hart cries after the streams of water, so cries my soul after you, O god.
2. My soul thirsts for god, the living god; when shall I come and behold the face of god?
3. My tears have been my bread day and night, while they every day said to me, where is your god?
4. When I remember those things, I pour out my soul within me; for I was wont to go with the multitude, to walk solemnly with them to the house of god, with the voice of praise and thanksgiving; the multitude celebrating a festival.
5. Why are you cast down, O my soul, why are you disquieted within me? Hope you in god, for I shall yet praise him; his countenance is salvation.
6. O my god, my soul is cast down within me, therefore will I remember you from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites from the mountain of Mitzar.
7. Abyss shouts to abyss at the noise of your waterspouts; all your billows and your waves are gone over me.
8. By day jehovah will command his mercy; and by night his song will be with me, even prayer to the god of my life.
9. I will say to god my rock, why have you forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
10. As the crushing of my bones are the reproaches of mine enemies, whilst, they daily say to me, where is your god?
11. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope you in God, for I shall yet praise him, the salvation of my countenance and my god.

Verse 1. As the hart cries after the streams of water, so cries my soul after you, O god. Hart in this passage denotes the affection of truth; to cry after the streams of water, denotes to desire truth. AC 6413.

Verse 4. I walked solemnly with them to the house of god, with the voice of praise and thanksgiving. Since joy of heart is from celestial love and from spiritual love, it is said, "Confess to jehovah, sing to him a new song." AE 826.

Verse 5. Why are you cast down, O my soul, why are you disquieted within me? Hope you in god, for I shall yet praise him, his countenance is salvation. By the faces of jehovah, of god, or the lord, are meant the interior things of the church, of the Word, and of worship, because in those things is divine good and divine truth, thus the lord himself, and he is in things internal from them, and not in things external, namely: of the church, of the Word, and of worship, without them. AE 412.

Verse 6. Therefore will I remember You from the land of Jordan. The land of Jordan denotes that which is lowly, and thus what is distant from the celestial principle, as the external things of man are from the internal, for the land of Canaan signifies the lord's kingdom and church, and indeed its celestial and spiritual principles, wherefore it was also called the holy land and the heavenly Canaan, and whereas it signified the lord's kingdom and church, it signifies in the supreme sense, the lord himself, who is the all in all of his kingdom and church; hence all things, which were in the land of Canaan, were representative; the things in the midst of the land, or which were inmost, represented his internal man, as Mount Zion and Jerusalem, the former celestial things, and the latter spiritual; the things at a greater distance represented things more remote from internal; the ultimate things, or those which were the boundaries, represented the external man; the boundaries of Canaan were several in number, in general the two rivers, Euphrates and Jordan, also the sea; hence Euphrates and Jordan represented external things. AC 1585.

That Jordan has the above signification, may be manifest also from these passages in the Word, as in David, "My god, my soul is cast down within me, therefore will I remember you from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites from the mount of littleness;" where to remember from the land of Jordan denotes from what is last, thus from what is low. AC 4255.

Verse 7. Abyss shouts to abyss at the noise of your waterspouts. By abyss in old time was signified hell, and the phantasies and persuasions of what is false, were likened to waters and streams, also to smoke thence issuing; evil spirits, who devastate man, also those who tempt, are from that, source; and their phantasies which they infuse, and the lusts with which they inflame man, are like inundations and exhalations issuing thence. AC 756.

By waves and billows are signified evils and falses. AE 538.

Verse 9. I will say to god my rock, why have you forgotten me? By god the rock, is understood the lord as to Divine Truth, in this passage as to defence. AE 411.

Verse 9. Why go I mourning [in black] because of the oppression of the enemy? Since mourning in the churches before the coming of the lord, which were representative churches, represented spiritual grief of mind on account of the want of truth and good, for mourning was for oppression by an enemy, for the death of a father or mother, and similar reasons, and by oppression from an enemy was signified oppression from evils which are from hell, and by father and mother was signified the church as to good and as to truth; therefore these things were represented by mourning amongst them, and on those occasions they went in black. AE 372.

Verse 11. For I will yet praise him, the salvations of my countenance and my God. The salvations of my countenance signify all things which are within, thus which are of the mind and affections, consequently which are of the love and faith, which, as being saving, are called salvations. AE 412.

Verse 5. Why are you cast down, O my soul, why are you disquieted within me? To be cast down has relation to the will and its affections, to be disquieted within me has relation to the understanding and its thoughts, thus both expressions united point to the heavenly Marriage of the good and the true, which is a distinguishing characteristic of the holy word.

Verse 11. For I will yet praise him, the salvations of my countenance and my god. It was said above, at verse 5, I shall yet praise him; his faces are salvations. It is here said, I will yet praise him, the salvations of my countenance and my god, which is a plain proof that the faces of God, or his Divine love and wisdom, were the salvations spoken of in both cases.