3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; He hath smitten my life down to the ground: He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.
I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no help, Cast off among the dead, Like the slain that lie in the grave, Whom thou rememberest no more, And they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, In dark places, in the deeps.
And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?
O Jehovah my God, in thee do I take refuge: Save me from all them that pursue me, and deliver me, Lest they tear my soul like a lion, Rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
Let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it; Yea, let him tread my life down to the earth, And lay my glory in the dust. Selah
From the wicked that oppress me, My deadly enemies, that compass me about. They are inclosed in their own fat: With their mouth they speak proudly. They have now compassed us in our steps; They set their eyes to cast `us' down to the earth. He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey, And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. Arise, O Jehovah, Confront him, cast him down: Deliver my soul from the wicked by thy sword;
I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the defaming of many, Terror on every side: While they took counsel together against me, They devised to take away my life.
Let them be put to shame and brought to dishonor that seek after my soul: Let them be turned back and confounded that devise my hurt.
Attend unto my cry; For I am brought very low: Deliver me from my persecutors; For they are stronger than I.
He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 143
Commentary on Psalms 143 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 143
This psalm, as those before, is a prayer of David, and full of complaints of the great distress and danger he was in, probably when Saul persecuted him. He did not only pray in that affliction, but he prayed very much and very often, not the same over again, but new thoughts. In this psalm,
We may more easily accommodate this psalm to ourselves, in the singing of it, because most of the petitions in it are for spiritual blessings (which we all need at all times), mercy and grace.
A psalm of David.
Psa 143:1-6
Here,
Psa 143:7-12
David here tells us what he said when he stretched forth his hands unto God; he begins not only as one in earnest, but as one in haste: "Hear me speedily, and defer no longer, for my spirit faileth. I am just ready to faint; reach the cordial-quickly, quickly, or I am gone.' It was not a haste of unbelief, but of vehement desire and holy love. Make haste, O God! to help me. Three things David here prays for:-