Psalm 143: Enter Not into Judgment

"Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. For the enemy hath persecuted my soul… he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead."

"I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works… I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah. Hear me speedily, O LORD… Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning… cause me to know the way wherein I should walk… Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness."

A thirsty land

"My soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land": the dry ground waiting for rain, a favourite image in the Psalms (63:1). The speaker asks to hear God's love "in the morning," the time of rescue and of the temple's morning offering.

"No man living be justified"

143:2 is echoed by Paul in Romans 3:20 and Galatians 2:16 ("by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified"), where Paul adds "by the works of the law." The psalm asks God not to put his servant on trial because no one could pass; Paul uses the line in his argument about justification.

Heading and tradition

The Hebrew heading is "A Psalm of David." The library's Vulgate adds "quando persequebatur eum Absalom filius ejus," "when his son Absalom was pursuing him," a Greek heading (compare Psalm 3). Psalm 143 is the seventh and last of the penitential psalms.