Psalms 42:1

As a hind which panteth for water-brooks,

So panteth my soul for Thee, O God.

Render hind, not hart, for the verb is feminine, and the timorous hind is the apter emblem for the soul. The parallel in Joel 1:20 (the only other instance of the verb) makes it clear that the figure is suggested by the sufferings of wild animals in a prolonged drought (cp. Jeremiah 14:5 f.), not by the hind "heated in the chase," and deterred by the fear of its pursuers from descending into the valley to slake its thirst.