I am a bit confused on the wording of Tehillim 42. Verse 6 states:
:מַה־תִּֽשְׁתּ֬וֹחֲחִ֨י | נַפְשִׁי֘ וַתֶּֽהֱמִ֪י עָ֫לָ֥י הוֹחִ֣ילִי לֵֽ֖אלֹהִים כִּי־ע֥וֹד אוֹדֶ֗נּוּ יְשׁוּע֥וֹת פָּנָֽיו
Why are you downcast, my soul, and why do you stir within me? Hope to God, for I will yet thank Him for the salvations of His presence.
And later the final verse states an almost identical phrase:
:מַה־תִּֽשְׁתּ֬וֹחֲחִ֨י | נַפְשִׁי֘ וּמַה־תֶּֽהֱמִ֪י עָ֫לָ֥י הוֹחִ֣ילִי לֵֽ֖אלֹהִים כִּי־ע֣וֹד אוֹדֶ֑נּוּ יְשׁוּעֹ֥ת פָּ֜נַ֗י וֵֽאלֹהָֽי
Why are you downcast, my soul, and why do you stir within me? Hope to God, for I will yet thank Him for the salvations of my countenance and my God.
(Translation from Chabad.org)
My question is not why the two verses are nearly identical save the last three words. I read in the ArtScroll Tehillim why this is so:
יְשׁוּעֹת פָּנַי - For the salvations of my coutenance. [A poetic play on words of v.6 and the first word of v.7.] In v.6, we praised God for the salvations of His coutanence, the furthering of His purpose even when they appear to conflict with our own aspirations. Here we proclaim our realization that His purposes are in fact the salvations of my coutanence the truest fulfillment of our own aspiration (R' Hirsch)
This is not my question. For some reason, the phrase "salvations of my countenance" just doesn't seem to make sense, although for sure that is the literal translation of the words. L'havdil, Christian translations translated the words as "my Savior and my God" but I suspect this is only to push their agenda that Yeshu is God, chas v'shalom.
How should I understand what "salvations of my countenance" to mean? Perhaps it really is just a fancy way of saying savior but Jewish translations are wary to translate it this way because it would look like it was supporting Christian doctrine? All Jewish translations I have seen translate the words the way I mentioned before, "the salvations of my countenance".