Psalms 143:2-12

2 Do not bring Your servant into judgment,[a] for no one alive is righteous in Your sight.[b]
3 For the enemy has pursued me, crushing me to the ground, making me live in darkness like those long dead.[c]
4 My spirit is weak within me; my heart is overcome with dismay.
5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all You have done; I reflect on the work of Your hands.[d]
6 I spread out my hands to You; I am like parched land before You. Selah
7 Answer me quickly, Lord; my spirit fails.[e] Don't hide Your face from me, or I will be like those going down to the Pit.[f]
8 Let me experience Your faithful love in the morning,[g] for I trust in You. Reveal to me the way I should go, because I long for You.
9 Rescue me from my enemies, Lord; I come to You for protection.[h]
10 Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God.[i] May Your gracious Spirit lead me on level ground.[j]
11 Because of Your name, Yahweh, let me live. In Your righteousness deliver me from trouble,[k]
12 and in Your faithful love destroy my enemies. Wipe out all those who attack me,[l] for I am Your servant.

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Psalms 143:2-12 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.

Footnotes 12

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