3 For the enemy persecuteth my soul: he hath crushed my life down to the earth; 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 strength: Prostrate among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave; whom thou rememberest no more, and who 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: why should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?
{Shiggaion of David, which he sang to Jehovah, concerning the words of Cush the Benjaminite.} Jehovah my God, in thee have I trusted: save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me; Lest he tear my soul like a lion, crushing it while there is no deliverer.
Let the enemy pursue after my soul, and take [it], and let him tread down my life to the earth, and lay my glory in the dust. Selah.
From the wicked that destroy me, my deadly enemies, who compass me about. They are enclosed in their own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly. They have now encompassed us in our steps; their eyes have they set, bowing down to the earth. He is like a lion that is greedy of its prey, and as a young lion lurking in secret places. Arise, Jehovah, anticipate him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, thy sword;
I am forgotten in [their] heart as a dead man; I am become like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many -- terror on every side -- when they take counsel together against me: they plot to take away my life.
Let them be put to shame and confounded that seek after my life; let them be turned backward and brought to confusion 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:-