Psalms 143:1-6

Psalm 143

A psalm of David.

1 Listen to my prayer, LORD! Because of your faithfulness, hear my requests for mercy! Because of your righteousness, answer me!

2 Please don't bring your servant to judgment, because no living thing is righteous before you.

3 The enemy is chasing me, crushing my life in the dirt, forcing me to live in the dark like those who've been dead forever.

4 My spirit is weak inside me— inside, my mind is numb.

5 I remember the days long past; I meditate on all your deeds; I contemplate your handiwork.

6 I stretch out my hands to you; my whole being is like dry dirt, thirsting for you. Selah

Read Chapter Compare

Images for Psalms 143:1-6

Psalms 143:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 143

\\<>\\. This psalm was composed by David when he fled from Absalom his son, according to the title of it in Apollinarius, the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions; so R. Obadiah Gaon: and of the same opinion is Theodoret and others. The sense he had of his sins, and his deprecating God's entering into judgment with him for them, seems to confirm it; affliction from his own family for them being threatened him, 2Sa 12:9-11; though Kimchi thinks it was written on the same account as the former, and at the same time, namely, when he was persecuted by Saul; and what is said in Ps 142:2,4, seems to agree with it. The Syriac inscription is, ``when the Edomites came against him;'' which is very foreign, since these were subdued by him.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Footnotes 2

[a]. Or my soul; also in 143:6, 8, 11-12
[b]. Heb lacks thirsting.