Text -- Psalms 43:1-5 (NET)

Psalm 43

43:1 Vindicate me, O God! Fight for me against an ungodly nation! Deliver me from deceitful and evil men! 43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. Why do you reject me? Why must I walk around mourning because my enemies oppress me? 43:3 Reveal your light and your faithfulness! They will lead me, they will escort me back to your holy hill, and to the place where you live. 43:4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, so that I express my thanks to you, O God, my God, with a harp. 43:5 Why are you depressed, O my soul? Why are you upset? Wait for God! For I will again give thanks to my God for his saving intervention.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 43:1

¹ sn Psalm 43. Many medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalm 43 and Psalm 42 into one psalm. Psalm 43 is the only psalm in Book 2 of the Psalter (Psalms 42-72) that does not have a heading, suggesting that it was originally the third and concluding section of Psalm 42. Ps 43:5 is identical to the refrain in Ps 42:11 and almost identical to the refrain in Ps 42:5.

² tn Or “argue my case.”

³ tn The imperfect here expresses a request or wish. Note the imperatives in the first half of the verse. See also v. 3.

⁴ tn Heb “from the deceitful and evil man.” The Hebrew text uses the singular form “man” in a collective sense, as the reference to a “nation” in the parallel line indicates.

NET Notes: Psa 43:2

¹ tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.

² tn The question is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but זָנַח (zanakh, “reject”) is a stronger verb than שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”).

³ tn The language is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but the Hitpael form of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh; as opposed to the Qal form in 42:9) expresses more forcefully the continuing nature of the psalmist’s distress.

⁴ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.

NET Notes: Psa 43:3

¹ tn Heb “send.”

² sn God’s deliverance is compared here to a light which will lead the psalmist back home to the Lord’s temple. Divine deliverance will in turn demonstrate the Lord’s faithfulness to his people.

³ tn Or “may they lead me.” The prefixed verbal forms here and in the next line may be taken as jussives.

⁴ tn Heb “bring.”

⁵ sn In this context the Lord’s holy hill is Zion/Jerusalem. See Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 48:1; 87:1; Dan 9:16.

⁶ tn Or “to your dwelling place[s].” The plural form of the noun may indicate degree or quality; this is the Lord’s special dwelling place (see Pss 46:4; 84:1; 132:5, 7).

NET Notes: Psa 43:4

¹ tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. Prefixed with the vav (ו) conjunctive it also expresses the result or outcome of the preceding verbs “lead” and “escort.”

² tn Heb “to God, the joy of my happiness.” The phrase “joy of my happiness” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the degree of the psalmist’s joy. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

³ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates purpose (“so that”) or intention.

NET Notes: Psa 43:5

¹ tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

² sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

³ tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”

⁴ tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of my face and my God.” The last line should be emended to read יְשׁוּעֹת פְנֵי אֱלֹהָי (yÿshu’ot fÿney ’elohay, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God,” that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention. This refrain is identical to the one in Ps 42:11. See also 42:5, which differs only slightly.