Psalms 143:1-8

1 {A Psalm of David.} Jehovah, hear my prayer; give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, in thy righteousness.

2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant; for in thy sight no man living shall be justified.

3 For the enemy persecuteth my soul: he hath crushed my life down to the earth; he hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.

4 And my spirit is overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.

5 I remember the days of old: I meditate on all thy doing; I muse on the work of thy hands.

6 I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul, as a parched land, [thirsteth] after thee. Selah.

7 Answer me speedily, O Jehovah; my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, or I shall be like unto them that go down into the pit.

8 Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning, for in thee do I confide; make me to know the way wherein I should walk, for unto thee do I lift up my soul.

Psalms 143:1-8 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.