It is to be noted that in this Book (Psa 42–72) the personal name of God, “Yahweh,” is not often used; instead, the generic term “God” is regularly employed.
As a hart: a simile is sometimes used in Hebrew poetry as a structural feature marking the opening of a stanza; for examples, see Isaiah 54.9; Jeremiah 22.6; 46.7; 25.38; Ezekiel 19.10; Psalm 11.1b.
In English it is preferable to use the more general term “deer” (An American Translation, Good News Translation) rather than the masculine hart (Revised Standard Version) or the feminine “hind” (New English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). The verb longs for in Hebrew is third person feminine, whereas the noun “deer” is masculine; Anderson, however, says that the same word is used of both the male and the female of the species.1-2 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says the Hebrew word can be both masculine and feminine. “Here it is certainly feminine and means ‘doe’ or ‘hind.’ ”
The psalmist compares his longing for the Temple, where he can worship God, to the desire a deer has for flowing streams (Good News Translation “a stream of cool water”).
In verses 1b and 2a my soul (nefesh) means “I” (see discussion at 3.2); a more adequate translation may be “my whole being longs for you.”
In some languages it will be necessary to restructure the order of the comparison or simile in this verse; for example, “I long for you, God, as a deer longs for a stream of cool water.” In some language areas it will be necessary to substitute an equivalent wild animal for the deer.
My soul thirsts for … the living God: verse 2 follows naturally on verse 1, the psalmist using the verb thirsts as parallel to and a graphic synonym of longs in verse 1. God is called the living God, a way of distinguishing the God of Israel from the pagan gods, who were seen as powerless, impotent, dead. In some languages it is not possible to say “I thirst for you.” Hence some adjustments will often be required; the most common ways are to use a simile or to use a nonfigurative expression. As a simile one may say, for example, “As a man thirsts for water, I need you.” As a nonfigure one may say simply “I long deeply for you” or “I have great need of you.”
In verse 2b the psalmist expresses his deep longing for the Temple with the plaintive question “When can I enter and see1-2 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project points out that the Masoretic text passive form, “be seen (by God),” meaning “to appear before God,” represents a scribal correction (tiqqun soferim; see footnote 1 at 10.3) of the active form of the verb “see” in the original Hebrew text. Here “there exist ancient text witnesses for the original uncorrected reading,” and so the committee favors its adoption. the face of God?” which means “When can I go to the Temple and worship there in God’s presence?” To “see the face of God” describes a spiritual experience in which the worshiper realizes he or she is in the immediate presence of the God of Israel (see comment on 11.7). Revised Standard Version come contrasts with Good News Translation “go”; it seems preferable to assume that the psalmist is not in the Temple as he composes this poem, and therefore “go” is better. It is to be noticed that Good News Translation keeps the second person of direct address to God in verses 1-2. Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew text by having the second person in verse 1 and the third person in verse 2.
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .