Kayal ta-arog (Psalm 42 in hip-hop)

Kayal ta-arog al afike mayim is how you write “As the deer panteth for the water” phonetically in Hebrew. That familiar heartwarming hymn has its place to be sure, but if you read the remainder of Psalm 42 from which it draws the first line, then you see that its tone is off. The psalmist says tears have been his food and his enemies’ taunts are crushing his bones. Those sorts of images call for a hip-hop song rather than a churchy sounding hymn. I’m preaching on this psalm this weekend. I will be rapping my own adaptation of it too. Lyrics are below. Here’s the recording:

Kayal Ta-arog

Like a deer in a land where the rain hasn’t been
And I’m scorched in the sand trying to find you again.
My soul has a thirst for the God who is real
‘Cause these tears by themselves don’t make much of a meal
You see all my haters say “Where is your God?”
I remember so well what they call a façade.
How we ran up and down in the streets with the throng
As we marched to the temple and we lived in your song.
I know that you’re there, but I can’t see your face;
And I’m dying of thirst, it’s a desolate place.
Now I’m all out of breath; my heart’s fallen low
Need my savior to come, show your face, it’s my hope.

When my soul is down, I remember the sound
Of your breath in the mountains where there’s snow on the ground
And the way that you met me at the beach in the waves
Deep called to deep, as they crashed in my face.
Your love was in my heart as I splashed through the light;
Now your song in my head’s how I get through the night.
You were always my rock; so then how’d you forget me?
They say, “Where is your God?” Do you understand the agony?
The taunts of my enemies have cut to the bone;
I’ve lost all my laughter and my heart’s turned to stone.
Now I’m all out of breath; my heart’s fallen low
Need my savior to come, show your face, it’s my hope.