Psalm 42

As the hart for water panteth,
So my soul for Thee, O God.
It to stand before Thee wanteth
And to see the living God.
Tears my meat are night and day;
"Where is God?" they ever say.
"If He love thee, why doth leave thee?
God doth certainly deceive thee."

Now, recalling, pain doth meet me,
For I often, with the crowd,
Hastened to Thy gates to greet Thee,
Singing joyful praises loud.
Why, my soul, art thou cast down?
Why so hopelessly dost moan?
Hope in God, for He upraises;
Thou shalt yet declare His praises.

Torn I am from Thee asunder;
Still Thy mercies I recall.
Depths of woe about me thunder,
Waves of sorrow on me fall,
Yet doth God His love command—
In the day I see His hand,
In the night I sing His praises,
And its prayer my spirit raises.

I will say to God, my shelter,
"Why forgettest Thou my plight?
Why with mourning must I swelter
In my foes' oppressive might?"
Woeful hurts on me they lay;
"Where is God?" they ever say.
"If He love thee, why doth leave thee?
God doth certainly deceive thee."

God my countenance doth nourish;
I shall yet His pow'r adore,
In His holy courts shall flourish,
Laud His grace forevermore.
Why, my soul, art thou cast down?
Why so hopelessly dost moan?
Hope in God, for He upraises;
Thou shalt yet declare His praises.

—Zachary Pletan


Tune: "Freu dich sehr," Louis Bourgeois, har. Claude Goudimel.
Courtesy of The Genevan Psalter Resource Center.

Thoughts

I found the tune for this one paired with "Comfort, comfort ye my people" in Catherine Winkworth's Chorale Book for England. Because I have seen variances in tune between that volume and other hymnals, I decided to try to find the original form in some old German hymnals I know on Google Books. I came to a dead end, not being able to find much on "When the Lord recalls the banished." Later, for no reason I remember, I was flipping through a paper Lutheran hymnal and came across the same text and tune, but this time it was called "Freu dich sehr," giving me a bit more to go on. I found that in one of my online hymnals, the tune was paired with a versification of Psalm 42.

On looking at the 42nd psalm, the first couple of lines immediately popped into my head—"As the hart for water panteth, / So my soul for Thee, O God." From there, I started on the rest of it. I learned midway through, I think via Hymnary.org , that it was originally a Genevan Psalter tune by Louis Bourgeois. Whatever its origin, I thought and think it a good match to the psalm. The last two phrases, especially, are what make that connection for me; they somehow (I don't know how to explain myself well in matters like this, but hopefully this will make sense) obviate the problems of the two phrases before them, which is exactly what the psalm does.

I love Claude Goudimel's polyphonic arrangement of the psalm. Revel in it at the Genevan Psalter Resource Center (MP3, singing this translation), or find it much more stately sung in the album Like as a Hart, from the Westminster Choir, on iTunes or Amazon.

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