Their taunts break my bones. They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”
Parallel translations
- WEB As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
- KJV As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?
- BSB Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
- NKJV As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
- NASB As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries taunt me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
His enemies' taunts pierce like a sword in his bones as they ask, 'Where is your God?' Mockery wounds him to the core.
Overview
The repeated jeer questioning God's presence cuts deeply into his spirit. The 'sword in my bones' conveys the agony of relentless reproach. Such taunts test faith, yet the psalmist will answer them with renewed hope in the next verse.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ps 42:3My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
- Joel 2:17Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare your people, Yahweh, and don’t give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
- Luke 2:35Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
- Prov 12:18There is one who speaks rashly like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise heals.
- Mic 7:10Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her who said to me, where is Yahweh your God? Then my enemy will see me and will cover her shame. Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 42:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.