6 Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I.
Remember not against us the iniquities of [our] forefathers; let thy tender mercies speedily come to meet us: for we are brought very low.
Jehovah keepeth the simple: I was brought low, and he saved me.
After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a single flea.
{A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.} Jehovah, how many are they that trouble me, many they that rise up against me!
But mine enemies are lively, they are strong; and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied:
Wherefore hidest thou thy face, [and] forgettest our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Rise up for our help, and redeem us for thy loving-kindness' sake.
He will send from the heavens and save me; he hath covered with reproach him that would swallow me up. Selah. God hath sent forth his loving-kindness and his truth. My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down [among] them that breathe out flames, the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
For behold, they lie in wait for my soul; strong ones are gathered against me: not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Jehovah.
Who hath remembered us in our low estate, for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever;
Answer me speedily, O Jehovah; my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, or I shall be like unto them that go down into the pit.
Who shall bring an accusation against God's elect? [It is] God who justifies:
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 142
Commentary on Psalms 142 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 142
This psalm is a prayer, the substance of which David offered up to God when he was forced by Saul to take shelter in a cave, and which he afterwards penned in this form. Here is,
Those that are troubled in mind, body, or estate, may, in singing this psalm (if they sing it in some measure with David's spirit), both warrant his complaints and fetch in his comforts.
Maschil of David. A prayer when he was in the cave.
Psa 142:1-3
Whether it was in the cave of Adullam, or that of Engedi, that David prayed this prayer, is not material; it is plain that he was in distress. It was a great disgrace to so great a soldier, so great a courtier, to be put to such shifts for his own safety, and a great terror to be so hotly pursued and every moment in expectation of death; yet then he had such a presence of mind as to pray this prayer, and, wherever he was, still had his religion about him. Prayers and tears were his weapons, and, when he durst not stretch forth his hands against his prince, he lifted them up to his God. There is no cave so deep, so dark, but we may out of it send up our prayers, and our souls in prayer, to God. He calls this prayer Maschil-a psalm of instruction, because of the good lessons he had himself learnt in the cave, learnt on his knees, which he desired to teach others. In these verses observe,
Psa 142:4-7
The psalmist here tells us, for our instruction,