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Journey of a Passage

Psalm 42:5

Where does the refrain end?

The refrain of Psalms 42–43 occurs three times. In the Hebrew verse division the first ends "the help of his countenance" and the next verse begins "O my God"; the second and third end "the help of my countenance, and my God." Giguet's Greek and the Vulgate read the first refrain like the other two.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The psalm as first composedPsalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed
  3. The second refrain, 42:11 (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed
  4. The third refrain, 43:5 (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Psalter
Latin
  1. Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)c. AD 386–392, revised from the GreekTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation

    Every witness, in order

    1. Psalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)

      The psalm as first composed

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. About forty Psalms manuscripts from Qumran, Masada and Nahal Hever (c. 2nd century BC – 1st century AD) are the oldest copies.

    2. c. AD 386–392, revised from the Greek

      Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Quare tristis es, anima mea? et quare conturbas me? Spera in Deo, quoniam adhuc confitebor illi, salutare vultus mei,

      Latin numbering: Psalm 41:6. Jerome revised this Latin Psalter from the Greek, so it is a witness to the Greek, not to the Hebrew. Its next verse begins "et Deus meus."

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      מַה־תִּשְׁתּ֬וֹחֲחִ֨י ׀ נַפְשִׁי֮ וַתֶּהֱמִ֢י עָ֫לָ֥י הוֹחִ֣ילִי לֵֽ֭אלֹהִים כִּי־ע֥וֹד אוֹדֶ֗נּוּ יְשׁוּע֥וֹת פָּנָֽיו׃

      Why are you bowed down, my soul, and why do you moan within me? Hope in God, for I will yet praise him, the salvation of his face.

      Hebrew numbering: Psalm 42:6. Hebrew counts the heading as verse 1. The next verse begins "O my God."

    4. AD 1008

      The second refrain, 42:11 (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      מַה־תִּשְׁתּ֬וֹחֲחִ֨י ׀ נַפְשִׁי֮ וּֽמַה־תֶּהֱמִ֢י עָ֫לָ֥י הוֹחִ֣ילִי לֽ͏ֵ֭אלֹהִים כִּי־ע֣וֹד אוֹדֶ֑נּוּ יְשׁוּעֹ֥ת פָּ֝נַ֗י וֵֽאלֹהָֽי׃

      …the salvation of my face and my God

      Hebrew 42:12 (English 42:11).

    5. AD 1008

      The third refrain, 43:5 (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      מַה־תִּשְׁתּ֬וֹחֲחִ֨י ׀ נַפְשִׁי֮ וּֽמַה־תֶּהֱמִ֢י עָ֫לָ֥י הוֹחִ֣ילִי לֽ͏ֵ֭אלֹהִים כִּי־ע֣וֹד אוֹדֶ֑נּוּ יְשׁוּעֹ֥ת פָּ֝נַ֗י וֵֽאלֹהָֽי׃

      …the salvation of my face and my God

      Hebrew and English 43:5.

    6. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

    7. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

      Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Psalter

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      O mon âme, pourquoi es-tu triste, et pourquoi me troubles-tu? Espère en Dieu; car je lui rendrai grâces, à lui mon salut et mon Dieu.

      Greek numbering: Psalm 41:5. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text; not checked against Rahlfs' critical edition.

    What changed, and why

    The consonants are almost the same: yshw't pnyw 'lhy ("the salvation of his face. My God…") against yshw't pny w'lhy ("the salvation of my face and my God"). A single letter (vav) moved from the end of one word to the start of the next, and the verse break placed after rather than before "my God," would give three identical refrains. Many modern translations (e.g. NRSV) print the first refrain like the others, following the Greek and Syriac. The Masoretic division is old and attested in the library's Hebrew; the site shows both.

    The refrain's three appearances are the main evidence that Psalms 42 and 43 were one poem.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedThe Masoretic first refrain differs from the second and third.
    • Independently documentedThe Greek reads the first refrain like the others.
    • Plausible, not confirmedThe original refrain was identical all three times.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Psalm 42: As the Deer Longs for Streams →"To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah." "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." Far from the temple, the speaker remembers leading the festival procession while others taunt, "Where is thy God?" Waterfalls near the Jordan's sources become waves of God passing over him: "Deep calleth unto deep." Twice he speaks to his own soul: "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?… hope thou in God."
      • Psalm 43: Send Out Your Light and Your Truth →Without a heading of its own in Hebrew, Psalm 43 continues the lament of Psalm 42. "Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation." "O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill." "Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy." The refrain sounds for the third time: "hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."