Psalm 42:1 (BSB)

For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God.

From Psalms 42. Also in the ESV.

Commentary on Psalm 42:1

• John Calvin (Reformed), Calvin's Commentaries on Psalm 42:1-11: PSALM 42 In the first place, David shows that when he was forced to flee by reason of the cruelty of Saul, and was living in a state of exile, what most of all grieved him was, that he was deprived of the opportunity of access to the sanctuary; for he preferred the service of God to every earthly advantage.
• C.H. Spurgeon (Reformed Baptist), The Treasury of David on Psalm 42:1: As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after the, O God. As after a long drought the poor fainting hind longs for the streams, or rather as the hunted hart instinctively seeks after the river to lave its smoking flanks and to escape the dogs, even so my weary, persecuted soul pants after the Lord my God. Debarred from public worship, David was heartsick.
• Matthew Henry (Presbyterian), Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on Psalm 42:1-5: Holy love to God as the chief good and our felicity is the power of godliness, the very life and soul of religion, without which all external professions and performances are but a shell and carcase: now here we have some of the expressions of that love. Here is, I.
• John Gill (Reformed Baptist), Exposition of the Old and New Testaments on Psalm 42:1: As the hart panteth after the water brooks,.... Either through a natural thirst that creature is said to have; or through the heat of the summer season; and especially when hunted by dogs, it betakes itself to rivers of water, partly to make its escape, and partly to extinguish its thirst, and refresh itself.