Psalms 143:3-10

3 For the enemy has pursued my soul; ¹he has crushed my life to the ground; ²he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.

4 Therefore my spirit ³faints within me; my heart within me is appalled.

5 ⁴I remember the days of old; ⁵I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.

6 ⁶I stretch out my hands to you; ⁷my soul thirsts for you like ⁸a parched land. Selah

7 ⁹Answer me quickly, O LORD! ¹⁰My spirit fails! ¹¹Hide not your face from me, ¹²lest I be like those who go down to the pit.

8 ¹³Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I ¹⁴trust. ¹⁵Make me know the way I should go, ¹⁶for to you I lift up my soul.

9 ¹⁷Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD! I have fled to you for refuge!^[a]

10 ¹⁸Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! ¹⁹Let your good Spirit ²⁰lead me on ²¹level ground!

Psalms 143:3-10 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.

Cross References

• 1. See Psalms 88:3-6
• 2. Lamentations 3:6
• 3. See Psalms 77:3
• 4. Psalms 77:5, 11
• 5. Psalms 77:12; Psalms 111:2
• 6. See Job 11:13
• 7. Psalms 42:2
• 8. [Psalms 63:1]
• 9. Psalms 69:17; Psalms 102:2
• 10. [Psalms 84:2]
• 11. Psalms 27:9
• 12. Psalms 28:1; Psalms 88:4
• 13. [Psalms 90:14]
• 14. Psalms 11:1; Psalms 25:2
• 15. Psalms 25:4
• 16. Psalms 25:1
• 17. Psalms 59:1; Psalms 142:6
• 18. [Psalms 119:12]
• 19. Nehemiah 9:20
• 20. See Psalms 23:3
• 21. Isaiah 26:10; [Psalms 27:11]

Footnotes

• [a]. One Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts To you I have covered