Psalms 41 and 42 from my new book:

A NEW LOOK AT THE OLD PSALMS

Praying the Psalms: a modern interpretation

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I present here a new perspective on the psalms. I have rewritten them from a New 
Testament Christ-centered point of view. I did not try to capture the poetry of the 
psalms – I leave that to more gifted writers – but I attempted to capture their message
with a more modern interpretation.

God bless,

John

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Psalm 41

J

esus speaks to the Father about his death and resurrection. “Father, you have restored me to life.  My enemies falsely testified against me. Even my friend, with whom I shared my table, betrayed me. But you rescued me, healed my broken body, and took away my pain when you raised me from the grave. Good has triumphed over evil. You saved me and brought me into the glory of your kingdom.”

Thank you, Father, for saving us, protecting our souls from the evil one, and healing us who are sick from sin and guilt. Amen.¹⁰

Psalm 42

J

esus speaks from the cross to the Father about his baptism. “Father, I remember how the waves of the River Jordan swept over me at my baptism by John, and that refreshes my soul. But now I am overwhelmed with sadness and surrounded by my enemies. My heart breaks as these are the same people who cheered me as I rode on a donkey into Jerusalem. Then they sang songs of praise and thanksgiving and blessed me because I came in the name of the Lord. Perhaps some were there at my baptism when you said that I was your beloved Son with whom you were so pleased. And the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove appeared above me.

Now as I hang upon this cross, my enemies taunt me: ‘Where is this God of yours?’ Where are you, Father? Why have you forsaken me? Yet I know that each day of my life you bathed me in an ocean of unfailing love, and each night I thanked you for giving me this life, a life that would atone for the sins of so many. Now I long to be with you. I thirst – for souls and for you, Father. End this pain and bring me into your presence.”

Let us thank the Father for sending us his Son, “the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” John 1:29 (NLT) Amen.¹¹

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Cover image: Christ the Saviour (Pantokrator)." Web. 25 Sept 2016.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spas_vsederzhitel_sinay.jpg
"Creative Commons License." Web. 18 May 2016.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

¹⁰The Orthodox Study Bible. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008), 709.

¹¹Ibid.

This book and other books I have written are posted for your reading pleasure at Booksie.

Scriptural quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, 

copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois
60189. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2016 by John P. Gross. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this material must 

be done in its entirety with the copyright notice intact. This book is not for sale, but is 

offered to the public free of charge for the glory of God.