Bible · Psalms

Psalms 143

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1Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.2And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.3For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.4Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.5I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.6I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.7Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.8Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.9Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.10Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.11Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.12And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.

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Notes for this chapter

Historical Background

Psalm 143 stands as the last of the seven traditional Penitential Psalms recognised by the early church, a collection that includes Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, and 130. Attributed to David, most scholars associate it with a period of intense personal crisis, possibly the rebellion of Absalom, when David found himself driven from Jerusalem, pursued by his own son, and surrounded by treachery. The Hebrew title simply calls it a psalm of David, and the emotional landscape of the poem reflects someone who has been reduced to absolute dependence on God. The ancient world understood that a man's enemies were not merely personal adversaries but spiritual and moral threats, and the intensity of this prayer must be read against that backdrop.

For the Israelite, to be cut off from the land, from the sanctuary, and from God's nearness was a form of living death, which explains the depth of anguish expressed in these twelve verses.

The opening verses establish what becomes the psalm's controlling tension. David cries for God to hear him based not on his own merit but on God's faithfulness and righteousness, and then immediately confesses in verse two that no living person can stand justified before God in judgment. This is one of the most theologically striking statements in all the psalms. The apostle Paul quotes directly from this verse in when building his case for the universal need of righteousness from God rather than from human effort.

Matthew Henry observed that David, though a man after God's own heart, refused to place any confidence in his own record before a holy God. He understood that to enter into a legal reckoning with the Almighty is to lose before a single charge is laid. This is not despair but wisdom, the kind of humility that throws a soul entirely upon divine mercy rather than personal achievement.

Core Teaching

Verses three through six paint the experience of crisis in vivid, almost physical language. The enemy has pressed David's life to the ground, placed him in darkness like those long dead. Adam Clarke noted that the phrase “those that have been long dead” carries the idea of those who have entirely perished, forgotten and gone. David's spirit is overwhelmed, his heart left desolate.

Yet something remarkable happens in verse five. Rather than sinking further, David turns his gaze backward to the history of God's works. He remembers, meditates, and muses on what God has done in times past. This is a deliberate spiritual discipline and it becomes the pivot of the psalm.

Verse six extends that inner movement outward into bodily posture, with David stretching his hands toward God and describing his longing as a thirsty land that is cracked open by drought. Ellen White, writing on the life of David, noted that the soul's deepest anguish can become the occasion of its most earnest reaching toward heaven, and that is precisely what this Selah pause invites the reader to feel.

Commentary Insights

The urgent petitions of verses seven through nine carry a marked sense of desperation shading into trust. David asks God not to hide His face, because to lose the sense of divine presence is, in his understanding, to be counted among those descending into the pit. The pit in Hebrew thought referred to Sheol, the realm of the dead, a place of silence and separation from the living worship of God. Verse eight is among the most beautiful verses in the psalm, where David asks to hear God's lovingkindness in the morning.

Morning held enormous significance in Israelite devotion, associated with the daily offering, the rising of light over darkness, and the renewal of hope after a night of uncertainty. The request to know the way wherein he should walk reflects the Hebrew concept of the path of life, not merely a direction of travel but a whole manner of living aligned with God's will.

Reflection & Application

The final cluster of verses, ten through twelve, brings the prayer to its conclusion with three distinct requests. First, David asks to be taught to do God's will, naming God as “my God” in an intimate declaration of covenant belonging. He asks for the Spirit's guidance into the land of uprightness, a phrase that may refer both to the literal land of Israel and to the moral territory of integrity and righteousness. Second, he asks to be quickened, that is, given life, not for his own sake but for God's name and God's righteousness.

Barnes' Notes points out that this appeal to God's own character and reputation is a frequent and honourable ground of prayer in Scripture. God's glory is at stake in how He treats those who belong to Him. Third, the psalm closes with a petition against enemies that may unsettle modern readers, but within the covenantal world of the Old Testament these words are a prayer that evil and its agents not be permitted to triumph over the purposes of God. David's final words, “for I am thy servant,” return the entire psalm to its opening posture of humble dependence.

The Great Controversy theme runs quietly through this psalm as the servant of God pressed to the ground by opposing forces lifts eyes and hands toward heaven, confident that divine faithfulness will be the final word.

Go deeper — references Classic commentaries on this chapter

Matthew Henry's Commentary Matthew Henry (1662–1714) Adam Clarke's Commentary Adam Clarke (1760–1832) Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871) Barnes' Notes on the Bible Albert Barnes (1798–1870) EGW Writings Ellen G. White Blue Letter Bible Study tools and lexicon

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