Text -- Psalms 143:1-4 (NET)

Psalm 143

143:1 A psalm of David. O Lord, hear my prayer! Pay attention to my plea for help! Because of your faithfulness and justice, answer me! 143:2 Do not sit in judgment on your servant, for no one alive is innocent before you. 143:3 Certainly my enemies chase me. They smash me into the ground. They force me to live in dark regions, like those who have been dead for ages. 143:4 My strength leaves me; I am absolutely shocked.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 143:1

¹ sn Psalm 143. As in the previous psalm, the psalmist laments his persecuted state and asks the Lord to deliver him from his enemies.

NET Notes: Psa 143:2

¹ tn Heb “do not enter into judgment with.”

² tn Heb “for no one living is innocent before you.”

NET Notes: Psa 143:3

¹ tn Or “for.”

² tn Heb “an enemy.” The singular is used in a representative sense to describe a typical member of the larger group of enemies (note the plural “enemies” in vv. 9, 12).

³ tn Heb “he crushes on the ground my life.”

⁴ tn Or “sit.”

⁵ sn Dark regions refers to Sheol, which the psalmist views as a dark place located deep in the ground (see Ps 88:6).

NET Notes: Psa 143:4

¹ tn Heb “my spirit grows faint.”

² tn Heb “in my midst my heart is shocked.” For a similar use of the Hitpolel of שָׁמֵם (shamem), see Isa 59:16; 63:5.