Psalms 143:1-6

1 Let my prayer come to you, O Lord; give ear to my requests for your grace; keep faith with me, and give me an answer in your righteousness;

2 Let not your servant come before you to be judged; for no man living is upright in your eyes.

3 The evil man has gone after my soul; my life is crushed down to the earth: he has put me in the dark, like those who have long been dead.

4 Because of this my spirit is overcome; and my heart is full of fear.

5 I keep in mind the early days of the past, giving thought to all your acts, even to the work of your hands.

6 My hands are stretched out to you: my soul is turned to you, like a land in need of water. (Selah.)

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.