Read
Psalm 42:1
For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.
1For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.
2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?
3My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
Notice
The deer’s thirst makes longing for God feel as urgent as a bodily need, while the words leave that thirst unresolved.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
Where, if anywhere, does the deer’s thirst resemble your desire for God today?
Write on thisWhat would you want to say to God after reading that the singer’s food is tears?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 63:1–2A Psalm by David, when he was in the desert of Judah. God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you, in a dry …Both singers describe their souls thirsting for God, with a deer seeking water in one and a waterless land in the other.
Psalm 143:6–7I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah.Both prayers compare the soul’s thirst for God to a need for water: a panting deer and parched land.
Psalm 119:131I opened my mouth wide and panted, for I longed for your commandments.Panting expresses longing in both verses, directed toward God in Psalm 42 and toward his commandments in Psalm 119.
Isaiah 26:8–9Yes, in the way of your judgments, LORD, we have waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.Both passages speak of the soul’s desire for God, with Isaiah naming his name and renown as the objects of longing.
Psalm 84:1–2For the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. How lovely are your dwellings, LORD of Armies!Both psalm headings name the sons of Korah; one voices thirst for God, the other delight in his dwellings.
Numbers 26:11Notwithstanding, the sons of Korah didn’t die.The sons of Korah named in the psalm’s heading are also named in Numbers, which records that they did not die.
2 Corinthians 7:11For behold, this same thing, that you were grieved in a godly way, what earnest care it worked in you. Yes, what defense, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, and …The shared thread is longing, though Corinthians describes a response to godly grief and the psalm expresses thirst for God.
Philippians 3:12Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.Both describe desire still reaching toward its goal, though Paul speaks of taking hold and the singer speaks of thirsting for God.
1 Chronicles 6:37the son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah,Korah appears in both texts: in the psalm’s heading and in the ancestry traced through Ebiasaph.
1 Chronicles 9:19Shallum was the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his brothers, of his father’s house, the Korahites, were over the work of the service, …The psalm names the sons of Korah, while Chronicles names Korahite descendants serving as keepers of the tent’s thresholds.
Job 6:5Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder?Both use animals and bodily needs as images, though Job asks about animals with food while the psalm describes a deer thirsting.
Numbers 16:32The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households, all of Korah’s men, and all their goods.Korah links the passages by name, though Numbers describes the earth swallowing his company and the psalm voices longing for God.
Where this verse fits
Feeling distant from God. grief. wanting a steady prayer habit.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Thirst can be part of prayer before any relief comes. Here, longing and tears belong to someone who still speaks to God as the one desired.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 42:1. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
Keep goingPsalm 42 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms
Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).