Psalms
Chapter 43
A person under attack asks God to step in and clear his name. He feels pushed away and worn down, so he asks God to send light and truth to guide him back to the place where God is worshiped, where he will play the harp and be glad. The psalm ends with him talking to himself, telling his own sad heart to keep hoping in God.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
1Judge my case, God, and speak up for me against a nation that ignores you. Save me from men who lie and cheat.
"Plead my cause" is courtroom language. He is asking God to act like his defender in a trial and prove he is in the right.
2For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
2You are the God who makes me strong. So why have you pushed me away? Why do I walk around sad while my enemy grinds me down?
3O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
3Send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill, to the place where you live.
The "holy hill" is Mount Zion in Jerusalem. The KJV word "tabernacles" means the tent, and later the temple, where people came to worship God.
4Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
4Then I will go to God's altar, to God, who is my very great joy. I will play the harp and praise you, God, my God.
5Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
5Why are you so low, my soul? Why are you so upset inside me? Wait for God with hope. I will praise him again. He is the one who saves me and makes me smile. He is my God.
The KJV says God is "the health of my countenance." "Countenance" means face. The line means God rescues him and puts the look of gladness back on his face.
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