gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
soul
נַפְשִׁ֪יnaf.Shi
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
down
תִשְׁתּ֫וֹחָ֥חtish.To.Chach
H7817
to sink or depress (reflexive or causative) · verb, hithpael imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
remember
אֶ֭זְכָּרְךָ'Ez.ka.re.kha
H2142
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
land
מֵאֶ֣רֶץme.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
Jordan
יַרְדֵּ֑ןyar.Den
H3383
Jarden · proper noun, a place name
Hermonites
וְ֝חֶרְמוֹנִ֗יםve.cher.mo.Nim
H2769
Hermons · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural absolute
hill
מֵהַ֥רme.Har
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Mizar
מִצְעָֽרmitz.'Ar
H4706
Mitsar · noun, common 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
Psalms 61:2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Jonah 2:7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
Deuteronomy 3:8-9 And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unt…
Psalms 43:4 Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
Deuteronomy 4:47-48 And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sunrisi…
2 Samuel 17:22 Then David arose, and all the people that were with him, and they passed over Jordan: by the morning light there lacked not one of them that…
Psalms 22:1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou fo…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 42:6–end
Complaints and comforts here, as before, take their turn, like day and night in the course of nature.
I. He complains of the dejections of his spirit, but comforts himself with the thoughts of God, Psa 42:6. 1. In his troubles. His soul was dejected, and he goes to God and tells him so: O my God! my soul is cast down within me. It is a great support to us, when upon any account we are distressed, that we have liberty of access to God, and liberty of speech before him, and may open to him the causes of our dejection. David had communed with his own heart about its own bitterness, and had not as yet found relief; and therefore he turns to God, and opens before him the trouble. Note, When we ca…
Dejection again described.
therefore--that is, finding no comfort in myself, I turn to Thee, even in this distant "land of Jordan and the (mountains) Hermon, the country east of Jordan.
hill Mizar--as a name of a small hill contrasted with the mountains round about Jerusalem, perhaps denoted the contempt with which the place of exile was regarded.
John Gill on Psalms 42:6
O my God, my soul is cast down within me,.... Which the psalmist repeats, partly to show the greatness of his dejection, though he had not lost his view of interest in God as his covenant God; and partly to observe another method he made use of to remove his dejection and refresh his spirits; and that was by calling to mind past experiences of divine goodness;
therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan; the country round about it, or rather beyond it; which was at the farthest parts of the land of Canaan, where David was obliged to flee, and where he had often met with God;
and of the Hermonites; who inhabited the mountain of Hermon; or the Hermonian mountains, as the Targum; s…
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
God is not to be sought from the height of arrogance, but the remembrance of him is found in situations of lowly humility.
When we come up against the demon of acedia, then with tears let us divide the soul and have one part offer consolation and the other receive consolation. And sowing within ourselves goodly hopes, let us chant with holy David this [verse].
"My soul is disquieted on account of myself." Is it disquieted on account of God? It is on my own account it is disquieted. By the Unchangeable it was revived; it is by the changeable it is disquieted. I know that the righteousness of God remaineth; whether my own will remain stedfast, I know not. For I am alarmed by the Apostle's saying, "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." [1 Corinthians 10:12] Therefore since "there is no soundness in me for myself," there is no hope either for me of myself. "My soul is disquieted on account of myself." ..."Therefore I remember Thee, O Lord, from the land of Jordan, and from the little hill of Hermon." From whence did I remember thee? From the "little hill," and from the "land of Jordan." Perhaps from Baptism, where the remission of sins is given. For no one runs to the remission of sins, except he who is dissatisfied with himself; no one runs to the remission of sins, but he who confesses himself a sinner; no one confesses himself a sinner, except by humbling himself before God. Therefore it is from "the land of Jordan I have remembered thee, and from the hill;" observe, not "of the great hill," that thou mayest make of the "little hill" a great one: for "whoso exalteth himself shall be abased, and whoso humbleth himself shall be exalted." If you would also ask the meanings of the names, Jordan means "their descent." Descend then, that thou mayest be "lifted up:" be not lifted up, lest thou be cast down. "And the little hill of Hermon." Hermon means "anathematizing." Anathematize thyself, by being displeased with thyself; for if thou art pleased with thyself, God will be displeased with thee. Because then God gives us all good things, because He Himself is good, not because we are worthy of it; because He is merciful, not because we have in anything deserved it; it is from "the land of Jordan, and from Hermon," that I remember thee. And because he so remembers with humility, he shall earn his exaltation to fruition, for he is not "exalted" in himself, who "glories in the Lord."
Dictionary and topics
Hermon — A peak, the eastern prolongation of the Anti-Lebanon range, reaching to the height of about 9,200 feet above the Mediterranean. It marks the north boundary of Palestine (Deut. 3:8, 4:48; Josh. 11:3,…
Hermonites, the — (Ps. 42:6, 7) = “the Hermons”, i.e., the three peaks or summits of Hermon, which are about a quarter of a mile apart.
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…
Desire · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Doubting · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Mizar · A hill — A hill
Mountains · Mentioned in scripture: Mizar — Mentioned in scripture: Mizar
(Heb.: 42:7-12) The poet here continues to console himself with God's help. God Himself is indeed dishonoured in him; He will not suffer the trust he has reposed in Him to go unjustified. True, עלי seems at the beginning of the line to be tame, but from עלי and אזכּרך, the beginning and end of the line, standing in contrast, עלי is made emphatic, and it is at the same time clear that על־כּן is not equivalent to אשׁר על־כּן - which Gesenius asserts in his Lexicon, erroneously referring to Psa 1:5; Psa 45:3, is a poetical usage of the language; an assertion for which, however, there is as little support as that כּי על־כּן in Num 14:43 and other passages is equivalent to על־כּן כּי. In all such…
Mount Hermon is a high mountain range northeast of Israel. The source of the Jordan is by Dan at the foot of Mount Hermon. • Mount Mizar might be a peak in the Mount Hermon range.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 42:6
O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
O my God, my soul is cast down within me. Here the song begins again upon the bass. So sweet an ending deserves that for the sake of a second hopeful close the Psalm should even begin again. Perhaps the psalmist's dejection continued, the spasm of despondency returned; well, then, he will down with his harp again, and try again its power upon himself, as in his younger days, he saw its influence upon Saul when the evil spirit came upon him. With God the song begins a second time more nearly than at first. The singer was also a little more tranquil. Ou…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
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).
