Psalms 143:2-12

2 Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no one living is righteous.

3 For the enemy has persecuted my soul; He has crushed my life to the ground; He has made me dwell in darkness, Like those who have long been dead.

4 Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me; My heart within me is distressed.

5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the work of Your hands.

6 I spread out my hands to You; My soul longs for You like a thirsty land. Selah

7 Answer me speedily, O Lord; My spirit fails! Do not hide Your face from me, Lest I be like those who go down into the pit.

8 Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You.

9 Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; In You I take shelter.

10 Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.

11 Revive me, O Lord, for Your name's sake! For Your righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble.

12 In Your mercy cut off my enemies, And destroy all those who afflict my soul; For I am Your servant.

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

• [a]. Septuagint and Vulgate read To You I flee.