Psalms 42:7

“Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth, etc.] Ready to sink, swoon, and faint away, through the weight of the affliction on him, by reason of the persecution of his enemy, and for want of the divine Presence; hence the Targum renders it, “my spirit desireth thee;” (see <220506>Song of Solomon 5:6 <235716>Isaiah 57:16); and therefore entreats that God would hear and answer him quickly; or, “make haste to answer” him, and not delay, lest he should be quite gone. Wherefore it follows, hide not thy face from me; nothing is more desirable to a good man than the “face” or presence of God, the light of his countenance, and sensible communion with him; which may be said to be “hid” when he…”

“The roar of successive billows, responding to that of floods of rain, represented the heavy waves of sorrow which overwhelmed him.”

“Deep calleth unto deep - The language used here would seem to imply that the psalmist was near some floods of water, some rapid river or water-fall, which constituted an appropriate illustration of the waves of sorrow that were rolling over his soul. It is not possible to determine exactly where this was, though, as suggested in the verse above, it would seem most probable that it was in the vicinity of the upper portion of the Jordan; and doubtless the Jordan, if swollen, would suggest all that is conveyed by the language used here. The word rendered deep - תהום tehôm - means properly a wave, billow, surge, and then, a mass of waters; a flood - the deep; the sea. In this latter sense it is…”

“Deep - One affliction comes immediately after another, as if it were called for by the former. A metaphor taken from violent and successive showers of rain; which frequently come down from heaven, as it were at the noise, or call of God's water spouts. Psalms 42:8”

“42:7 The raging seas, waves, and surging tides conjure images of God’s wrath (see 88:7).”

“Deep calleth: Job 1:14-19, Job 10:17; Jer 4:20; Eze 7:26 waterspouts: A water-spout is a large tube formed of clouds by means of the electric fluid, the base being uppermost, and the point let down perpendicularly form the clouds. It has a particular kind of circular motion at the point; and, being hollow within, attracts vast quantities of water, which it frequently pours down in torrents upon the earth. These spouts are frequent on the coast of Syria; and no doubt the Psalmist had often seen them, and the ravages which they made. all thy: Psa 69:14, Psa 69:15, Psa 88:7, Psa 88:15-17; Lam 3:53-55; Jon 2:3 Psalms 42:8”