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Psalm 42:4

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.

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?”
4These 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.
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.
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← Psalm 42:3Psalm 42:5 →
Notice

The remembered crowd, once full of joy on the way to God’s house, shows how memories of shared worship can sharpen the pain of its absence.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What memory of worship with other people comes to mind as you read about this crowd?

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Where, if anywhere, do the words “used to” touch your own experience of worship?

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What would you want to pour out before God about that memory?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

11 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 62:8Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Selah.Both passages speak of pouring out the inner life; Psalm 42 describes it, while Psalm 62 urges trust in God.
Psalm 100:2Serve the LORD with gladness. Come before his presence with singing.Psalm 42 remembers approaching God with joy and praise; Psalm 100 urges coming before his presence with singing.
Isaiah 58:13“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of the LORD honorable, and …Both mention a holy day, with Psalm 42 recalling joyful worship and Isaiah describing the Sabbath as a delight.
Psalm 84:5Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on a pilgrimage.Psalm 42 recalls a procession to God’s house, while Psalm 84 speaks of hearts set on a pilgrimage.
1 Samuel 1:15Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have not been drinking wine or strong drink, but I poured out my soul before the LORD.Hannah and the speaker in Psalm 42 both describe pouring out the soul amid sorrow.
Isaiah 30:29You will have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a flute to come to the LORD’s mountain, to …Both passages join a holy celebration with song and gladness as people go toward God’s dwelling.
Psalm 55:14We took sweet fellowship together. We walked in God’s house with company.Both recall going to God’s house with others, preserving the memory of companionship in worship.
Acts 4:23Being let go, they came to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them.The shared thread is company: Psalm 42 remembers a worshiping crowd, while Acts describes people returning to their own group.
Job 30:16“Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold of me.Both describe the soul poured out within the speaker, expressing distress rather than the joy recalled in Psalm 42.
Ezekiel 46:10The prince shall go in with them when they go in. When they go out, he shall go out.The shared detail is movement with a group: Psalm 42 recalls leading others, while Ezekiel describes the prince entering with them.
1 Corinthians 5:8Therefore let’s keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.Both mention keeping a feast or holy day; Psalm 42 recalls praise, while Corinthians stresses sincerity and truth.
Where this verse fits

Loneliness. feeling distant from God. grief.

What the Bible says about loneliness →What the Bible says about doubt →What the Bible says about grief →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Tell a trusted church friend one memory of shared worship

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Encouragement

If memories of worship bring sorrow, you need not force them into cheer. This song to God makes room for remembered praise and present tears.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 42:4. 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).