Psa 42:8-9 | NETfull | STEP | By day the Lord decrees his loyal love, and by night he gives me a song, a prayer to the living God.

Psalms 42:8-9

8 By day the Lord decrees his loyal love, ^{▼▼ The psalmist believes that the Lord has not abandoned him, but continues to extend his loyal love. To this point in the psalm, the author has used the name “God,” but now, as he mentions the divine characteristic of loyal love, he switches to the more personal divine name Yahweh (rendered in the translation as “the Lord”).}
and by night he gives me a song, ^{▼▼ Heb “his song [is] with me.”}
a prayer ^{▼▼ A few medieval Hebrew mss read תְּהִלָּה (t^ehillah, “praise”) instead of תְּפִלָּה (t^efillah, “prayer”).} to the living God.
9 I will pray ^{▼▼ The cohortative form indicates the psalmist’s resolve.} to God, my high ridge: ^{▼▼ This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28; Pss 18:2; 31:3.}
“Why do you ignore ^{▼▼ Or “forget.”} me?
Why must I walk around mourning ^{▼▼ Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar idea.}
because my enemies oppress me?”