Psalms 43: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The psalmist asks God to take his side against an ungodly nation and against deceitful, unjust people, and asks why God has rejected him while an enemy oppresses him. He asks God to send out light and truth to lead him to God's holy hill and dwelling place, where he will praise God at the altar with a harp. He ends by asking his own soul why it is downcast, and telling it to hope in God.

Claim by Claim

1. 43:1
   • The speaker asks God to judge him.
   • The speaker asks God to plead his case.
   • The speaker asks God to plead his case against a nation that is not faithful or godly.
   • The speaker asks God to deliver him from a man of deceit and injustice.
2. 43:2
   • The speaker says that God is the God of his stronghold.
   • The speaker asks God why God has rejected him.
   • The speaker asks why he goes about in gloom.
   • The speaker says he goes about in gloom because of the oppression of the enemy.
3. 43:3
   • The speaker asks God to send out his light and his truth.
   • The speaker asks that the light and truth lead him.
   • The speaker asks that the light and truth bring him to God's holy mountain.
   • The speaker asks that the light and truth bring him to God's dwelling places.
4. 43:4
   • The speaker says he will then come to the altar of God.
   • The speaker says he will come to God, who is the gladness of his rejoicing.
   • The speaker says he will praise God with the lyre.
   • The speaker addresses God as his God.
5. 43:5
   • The speaker asks his soul why it is cast down.
   • The speaker asks why his soul is in turmoil within him.
   • The speaker tells his soul to wait in hope for God.
   • The speaker says he will yet praise God.
   • The speaker calls God the salvation of his face.
   • The speaker calls God his God.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

43:1

In Hebrew manuscripts this psalm carries no heading of its own, and it repeats the refrain of Psalm 42; many read the two as a single poem split in copying. "Plead my cause" is courtroom language: the singer asks God to be both the judge who rules on his case and the advocate who argues it for him. The "nation that does not honor you" translates a word for a people lacking the loyalty and mercy expected within the covenant community.

43:2

The Hebrew word behind "strength" means a stronghold or fortress, safety in the sense of a place you can retreat to, not just power. "Cast me off" is the language of rejecting someone you had accepted.

43:3

The "holy hill" is Mount Zion in Jerusalem, the ridge on which the temple stood. The King James "thy tabernacles" is plural, but the Hebrew plural here is an intensive form meaning the one dwelling-place, the sanctuary itself, not several tents. The singer is somewhere far from it and wants to be brought back.

43:4

An altar was a raised stone platform in the temple courtyard where offerings were burned; going up to the altar was the normal way of speaking about going to worship. The instrument is the kinnor, a small lyre held in the arms with about ten strings, not the tall orchestral harp of today.

43:5

This verse repeats, word for word, the refrain that closes both halves of Psalm 42. "Health of my countenance" is a literal rendering of the Hebrew "the salvation of my face": the one who restores a face worn down by grief. The soul is addressed as a separate party because in Hebrew the word means the whole living self, so the singer is arguing with himself out loud.