Psalms 143:1-9

1 David adversus Goliad benedictus Dominus Deus meus qui docet manus meas ad proelium digitos meos ad bellum

2 misericordia mea et refugium meum susceptor meus et liberator meus protector meus et in eo speravi qui subdis populum meum sub me

3 Domine quid est homo quia innotuisti ei aut filius hominis quia reputas eum

4 homo vanitati similis factus est dies eius sicut umbra praetereunt

5 Domine inclina caelos tuos et descende tange montes et fumigabunt

6 fulgora coruscationem et dissipabis eos emitte sagittas tuas et conturbabis eos

7 emitte manum tuam de alto eripe me et libera me de aquis multis de manu filiorum alienorum

8 quorum os locutum est vanitatem et dextera eorum dextera iniquitatis

9 Deus canticum novum cantabo tibi in psalterio decacordo psallam tibi

Psalms 143:1-9 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.