Psalms 143:2-12

2 Don’t put your servant on trial, for no one is innocent before you.

3 My enemy has chased me. He has knocked me to the ground and forces me to live in darkness like those in the grave.

4 I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear.

5 I remember the days of old. I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done.

6 I lift my hands to you in prayer. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. Interlude

7 Come quickly, LORD, and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don’t turn away from me, or I will die.

8 Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.

9 Rescue me from my enemies, LORD ; I run to you to hide me.

10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.

11 For the glory of your name, O LORD, preserve my life. Because of your faithfulness, bring me out of this distress.

12 In your unfailing love, silence all my enemies and destroy all my foes, 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.