Psalms 43:1-4

Psalm 43 ¹ 

43:1 Vindicate me, O God!

Fight for me ²  against an ungodly nation!

Deliver me ³  from deceitful and evil men! ⁴ 

43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. ⁵ 

Why do you reject me? ⁶ 

Why must I walk around ⁷  mourning ⁸ 

because my enemies oppress me?

43:3 Reveal ⁹  your light ¹⁰  and your faithfulness!

They will lead me, ¹¹ 

they will escort ¹²  me back to your holy hill, ¹³ 

and to the place where you live. ¹⁴ 

43:4 Then I will go ¹⁵  to the altar of God,

to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, ¹⁶ 

so that I express my thanks to you, ¹⁷  O God, my God, with a harp.

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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.

⁵ tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.

⁶ tn The question is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but זָנַח (zanakh, “reject”) is a stronger verb than שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”).

⁷ 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.

⁸ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.

⁹ tn Heb “send.”

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ tn Or “may they lead me.” The prefixed verbal forms here and in the next line may be taken as jussives.

¹² tn Heb “bring.”

¹³ 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.

¹⁴ 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).

¹⁵ 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.”

¹⁶ 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.

¹⁷ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates purpose (“so that”) or intention.