Psalm 42 is a psalm in the Book of Psalms. It is one of the thirteen Maschil Psalms, dedicated "To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah.") It begins "Sicut cervus" in Latin of the Old Roman Psalter, and "Quemadmodum" in the Vulgate Psalter of Jerome, "As pants the hart" in the metrical version by Tate and Brady, and "As the hart panteth" in the King James English text set to music by Huffman.
The psalmist saw the misfortune of being far from the temple of God, and its opponents see it as a divine punishment. In his painful exile, he continues to desire the distant God. In him fighting melancholy and hope to see the living God. This hope through all the trials he experiences, supported by recalling a happy past and the proximity of God.
Psalm 42 is recited on the second day of Sukkot.
Psalm 42 is the fourth of ten Psalms recited in the Tikkun HaKlali of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov
Catholic teaching sees the psalm a longing for piety, by the church.
In the Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, it is sung or recited in the Easter Vigil during the procession to the baptismal font.
In the Ordinary form of the Roman Rite, the psalm is recited or sung following the seventh reading of the Easter Vigil.
According to the Rule of St. Benedict(530) this psalm was traditionally performed at monasteries, to the Office of Matins of lundi. In the Liturgy of Hours today, Psalm 42 is sung or recited lauds the Monday of the second semaine.
Its musical settings include:
Requiem by Ockeghem (fifteenth century)
Sicut cervus by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (sixteenth century)
As pants the hart by Handel (eighteenth century)
Chorale Was betrübst du dich Movement 6 of Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21, by Johann Sebastian Bach (eighteenth century)
Psalm 42 by Mendelssohn (nineteenth century)
2e verset du 41me psaume (2e vt du 42e de la Vulgate) by Charles-Valentin Alkan (nineteenth century)
Like as the hart by Herbert Howells (twentieth century)
As the Hart Panteth (Psalm 42) (1962, 1965; King James English, SATB 3' 20"), by Gloria Merle Huffman (1946- ) (twentieth century)
Psalm 42 (There is a longing in my heart) (1988; New International Version), by Maranatha! Singers (USA)
Psalm 42 (As the deer pants for streams of water) (2008; New International Version), by Sons of Korah (Australia)
Quemadmodum desiderat cervus, by Dietrich Buxtehude (eighteenth century)
Loys Bourgeois used the psalm as a basis for the Lutheran choir tune 'Freu dich sehr o meine Seele'.
In the seventeenth century Michel Richard Delalande used it for a grand motet.
Johann Sebastian Bach also used Psalm 42.
Sicut Cervus 3-part a cappella piece by Laura Kranz
