Psa 42:5 | NETfull | STEP | Why are you depressed, O my soul? Why are you upset? Wait for God! For I will again give thanks to my God for his saving intervention.

Psalms 42:5

5 Why are you depressed, ^{▼▼ Heb “Why do you bow down?”} O my soul? ^{▼▼ For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.}
Why are you upset? ^{▼▼ Heb “and [why] are you in turmoil upon me?” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries on the descriptive present nuance of the preceding imperfect. See GKC 329 #111.t.}
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention. ^{▼▼ Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of his face.” The verse division in the Hebrew text is incorrect. אֱלֹהַי (’elohay, “my God”) at the beginning of v. 7 belongs with the end of v. 6 (see the corresponding refrains in 42:11 and 43:5, both of which end with “my God” after “saving acts of my face”). The Hebrew term פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”) should be emended to פְּנֵי (p^eney, “face of”). The emended text reads, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God,” that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention.}