“As the deer panteth”
KING JAMES VERSION (KJV)
TRANSLATION, MEANING, CONTEXT
This psalm likens a stag or mule deer's longing for water to our soul's longing for God. Indeed, we must thirst after God for our very soul survival depends it.
To get what Psalm 42:1 means in detail, scroll down or follow these links for the original scriptural meaning , biblical context and relative popularity.
“As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.”
What does this verse really mean? Use this table to get a word-for-word translation of the original Hebrew Scripture. This shows the English words related to the source biblical texts along with brief definitions. Follow the buttons in the right-hand column for detailed definitions and verses that use the same root words. Use this reference information to gain deeper insight into the Bible and enrich your understanding. Information based on Strong's Exhaustive Concordance[1].
| KJV Verse | Original Hebrew | Meaning/ Definition This is a simplified translation of the original Hebrew word. Follow the buttons on the right to get more detail. | More Use the buttons below to get details on the Hebrew word and view related Bible verses that use the same root word. |
|---|---|---|---|
| “As the hart” | כְּאַיָּ֗ל | A stag or male deer | hart |
| “panteth” | תַּעֲרֹ֥ג | To long for | panteth |
| “after” | עַל | Above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications | after |
| “the water” | מָ֑יִם | Water; figuratively, juice; by euphemism, urine, semen | water |
| “brooks,” | אֲפִֽיקֵי | Properly, containing, i.e., a tube; also a bed or valley of a stream; also a strong thing or a hero | brooks |
| “so” | כֵּ֤ן | Properly, set upright; hence (figuratively as adjective) just; but usually (as adverb or conjunction) rightly or so (in various applications to manner, time and relation; often with other particles) | so |
| “panteth” | תַעֲרֹ֖ג | To long for | panteth |
| “my soul” | נַפְשִׁ֨י | Properly, a breathing creature, i.e., animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental) | soul |
| “after” | אֵלֶ֣יךָ | Near, with or among; often in general, to | after |
| “thee, O God.” | אֱלֹהִֽים׃ | Gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative | O God |
See Psalm 42:1 with its adjacent verses in bold below. Follow either of the two large buttons below to see these verses in their broader context of the King James Bible or a Bible concordance.
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1 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
The King James Bible (1611) and Strong's Concordance (1890) with Hebrew and Greek dictionaries are sourced from the BibleForgeDB database (https://github.com/bibleforge) within the BibleForge project (http://bibleforge.com). Popularity rankings are based on search volume data from the Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool.