Psalms 42:3 Explained in Context

Read It With

• Psalms 42:1–11

Read Psalms 42:3 with 42:1–11. Read alone, “My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually…” could lose the individual voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 42:1–11, the individual voice carries the movement “Thirsting for God while tears persist” as part of “Thirsting for God while tears persist.” Its lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.

Why This Verse Appears Here

Psalms 42:1–11 opens Psalm 42 with “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God” and establishes the individual voice and “Thirsting for God while tears persist” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Psalm 43 continues the same longing, enemies, divine guidance, and repeated self-address found in Psalm 42, so the paired laments clarify one another. Within that relationship, Psalm 42:3 poses the poem's question through “My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto…” and leaves the surrounding lines to answer, intensify, or hold it open.