Psalms 143:2-12

2 Enter not into judgment with thy servant; for no man living is righteous before thee.

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

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

5 I remember the days of old, I meditate on all that thou hast done; I muse on what thy hands have wrought.

6 I stretch out my hands to thee; my soul thirsts for thee like a parched land. [Selah]

7 Make haste to answer me, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the Pit.

8 Let me hear in the morning of thy steadfast love, for in thee I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to thee I lift up my soul.

9 Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies! I have fled to thee for refuge!

10 Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God! Let thy good spirit lead me on a level path!

11 For thy name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life! In thy righteousness bring me out of trouble!

12 And in thy steadfast love cut off my enemies, and destroy all my adversaries, for I am thy 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.