Psalms 42:4 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Psalms 42:4
When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.
properly · verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
out
וְאֶשְׁפְּכָ֬הve.'esh.pe.Khah
H8210
to spill forth (blood · conjunction + verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
soul
נַפְשִׁ֗יnaf.Shi
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
gone
אֶֽעֱבֹ֨ר'e.'e.Vor
H5674
to cross over · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
multitude
בַּסָּךְ֮ba.soKh
H5519
properly · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
went
אֶדַּדֵּ֗ם'ed.da.Dem
H1718
to walk gently · verb, hithpael imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
house
בֵּ֥יתbeit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
God
אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
voice
בְּקוֹלbe.kol-
H6963
a voice or sound · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
joy
רִנָּ֥הri.Nah
H7440
properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute
praise
וְתוֹדָ֗הve.to.Dah
H8426
properly · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
multitude
הָמ֥וֹןha.Mon
H1995
a noise · noun, common masculine singular absolute
holyday
חוֹגֵֽגcho.Geg
H2287
properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 30:29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the m…
1 Samuel 1:15-16 And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured o…
Psalms 62:8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.
Psalms 122:1 I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
Job 29:2-30:31 Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;
Psalms 55:14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.
Psalms 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Nahum 1:15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vo…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 42:1-5
Holy love to God as the chief good and our felicity is the power of godliness, the very life and soul of religion, without which all external professions and performances are but a shell and carcase: now here we have some of the expressions of that love. Here is,
I. Holy love thirsting, love upon the wing, soaring upwards in holy desires towards the Lord and towards the remembrance of his name (Psa 42:1, Psa 42:2): "My soul panteth, thirsteth, for God, for nothing more than God, but still for more and more of him." Now observe,
1. When it was that David thus expressed his vehement desire towards God. It was, (1.) When he was debarred from his outward opportunities of waiting on God, when he…
The verbs are properly rendered as futures, "I will remember," &c.,--that is, the recollection of this season of distress will give greater zest to the privileges of God's worship, when obtained.
John Gill on Psalms 42:4
When I remember these things,.... Either the reproaches of his enemies; or rather his past enjoyments of God in his house, he after makes mention of;
I pour out my soul in me, that is, he had no life nor spirit in him, but was quite overwhelmed with distress and anguish; or he poured out his soul in prayer to God, that it might be with him as in times past;
for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God; the place of public worship, whither he had often gone, with great pleasure and delight; and, which added thereto, there were many that went along with him; or whom he had "caused to go" (g), had brought along with him; which is the sense of the word, only used her…
Psalm 42:4-6
4. When I remember these things, [116] I pour out my soul within me, because I had gone in company with them, [literally in number,] leading them even to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, even the multitude dancing for joy. [117] 5. O my soul! why art thou cast down? and why art thou disquieted within me? Wait thou upon God: for I shall yet praise him for the helps [or salvations] of his countenance. 6. O my God! my soul is cast down within me, when I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of Hermonim, [or, and from the Hermons,] from the hill Mizar.
4. When I remember these things This verse is somewhat obscure, on account of the variation of the tenses i…
The Church Fathers
Rejoicing refers to the singing of psalms, while confession must include lamentation over sins. The combination of these two things undoubtedly makes for a complete Christian.… What is sweeter and more salutary than to praise God and to continually accuse oneself.
After the sad events, therefore, he proclaims pleasant ones and ahead of time teaches that they will quickly secure their recall, and with the guidance of God's grace, they will return to the land of their desire and will rebuild God's house, will celebrate the customary festivals and welcome into their ears the festive sound and spiritual melody.
"I thought on these things, and poured out my soul above myself" [Psalm 42:4]. When would my soul attain to that object of its search, which is "above my soul," if my soul were not to "pour itself out above itself"? For were it to rest in itself, it would not see anything else beyond itself; and in seeing itself, would not, for all that, see God. Let then my insulting enemies now say, "Where is your God?" aye, let them say it! I, so long as I do not "see," so long as my happiness is postponed, make my tears my "bread day and night." Let them still say, "Where is your God?" I seek my God in every corporeal nature, terrestrial or celestial, and find Him not: I seek His Substance in my own soul, and I find it not, yet still I have thought on these things, and wishing to "see the invisible things of my God, being understood by the things made," [Romans 1:20] I have poured forth my soul above myself, and there remains no longer any being for me to attain to, save my God. For it is "there" is the "house of my God." His dwelling-place is above my soul; from thence He beholds me; from thence He created me; from thence He directs me and provides for me; from thence he appeals to me, and calls me, and directs me; leads me in the way, and to the end of my way.. ..
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Korahite — (1 Chronicles 9:19,31) Kor’-hite, or Kor’athite, that portion of the Kohathites who were descended from Korah. They were an important branch of the singers, (2 Chronicles 20:19) hence we find eleven…
Mizar — Smallness, a summit on the eastern ridge of Lebanon, near which David lay after escaping from Absalom (Ps. 42:6). It may, perhaps, be the present Jebel Ajlun, thus named, “the little”, in contrast…
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Psalms — The psalms are the production of various authors. “Only a portion of the Book of Psalms claims David as its author. Other inspired poets in successive generations added now one now another…
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
Church · HOUSE OF GOD — HOUSE OF GOD
Communion Of Saints · Delight of — Delight of
Desire · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Feasts, The Anniversary · The Jews went up to, in large companies — The Jews went up to, in large companies
Joy · Saints should engage in all religious services with — Saints should engage in all religious services with
Prayer · Should be offered up: With the soul — Should be offered up: With the soul
(Heb.: 42:2-6) The poet compares the thirsting of his soul after God to the thirsting of a stag. איּל (like other names of animals is epicoene, so that there is no necessity to adopt Bצttcher's emendation כּעיּלת תערג) is construed with a feminine predicate in order to indicate the stag (hind) as an image of the soul. ערג is not merely a quiet languishing, but a strong, audible thirsting or panting for water, caused by prevailing drought, Psa 63:2; Joe 1:20; the signification desiderare refers back to the primary notion of inclinare (cf. Arab. 'l-mı̂l, the act of inclining), for the primary meaning of the verb Arab. ‛rj is to be slanting, inclined or bent, out of which has been developed the…
The psalmist recalls leading a great procession as a member of the Levitical choir, possibly during the high holy days.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 42:4
When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.
When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. When he harped upon his woes his heart melted into water and was poured out upon itself. God hidden, and foes raging, a pair of evils enough to bring down the stoutest heart! Yet why let reflections so gloomy engross us, since the result is of no value: merely to turn the soul on itself, to empty it from itself into itself is useless, how much better to pour out the heart before the Lord! The prisoner's tread wheel might sooner land him in…
Thirst · Figurative of the ar — Figurative of the ar
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
