6 Attend Thou unto my loud cry, For I have become very low, Deliver Thou me from my pursuers, For they have been stronger than I.
Remember not for us the iniquities of forefathers, Haste, let Thy mercies go before us, For we have been very weak.
A preserver of the simple `is' Jehovah, I was low, and to me He giveth salvation.
`After whom hath the king of Israel come out? after whom art thou pursuing? -- after a dead dog! after one flea!
A Psalm of David, in his fleeing from the face of Absalom his son. Jehovah, how have my distresses multiplied! Many are rising up against me.
And mine enemies `are' lively, They have been strong, and those hating me without cause, Have been multiplied.
Why Thy face hidest Thou? Thou forgettest our afflictions and our oppression, For bowed to the dust hath our soul, Cleaved to the earth hath our belly. Arise, a help to us, And ransom us for thy kindness' sake.
He sendeth from the heaven, and saveth me, He reproached -- who is panting after me. Selah. God sendeth forth His kindness and His truth. My soul `is' in the midst of lions, I lie down `among' flames -- sons of men, Their teeth `are' a spear and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.
For, lo, they laid wait for my soul, Assembled against me are strong ones, Not my transgression nor my sin, O Jehovah.
Who in our lowliness hath remembered us, For to the age `is' His kindness.
Haste, answer me, O Jehovah, My spirit hath been consumed, Hide not Thou Thy face from me, Or I have been compared with those going down `to' the pit.
Who shall lay a charge against the choice ones of God? God `is' He that is declaring righteous,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 142
Commentary on Psalms 142 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 142
This psalm is a prayer, the substance of which David offered up to God when he was forced by Saul to take shelter in a cave, and which he afterwards penned in this form. Here is,
Those that are troubled in mind, body, or estate, may, in singing this psalm (if they sing it in some measure with David's spirit), both warrant his complaints and fetch in his comforts.
Maschil of David. A prayer when he was in the cave.
Psa 142:1-3
Whether it was in the cave of Adullam, or that of Engedi, that David prayed this prayer, is not material; it is plain that he was in distress. It was a great disgrace to so great a soldier, so great a courtier, to be put to such shifts for his own safety, and a great terror to be so hotly pursued and every moment in expectation of death; yet then he had such a presence of mind as to pray this prayer, and, wherever he was, still had his religion about him. Prayers and tears were his weapons, and, when he durst not stretch forth his hands against his prince, he lifted them up to his God. There is no cave so deep, so dark, but we may out of it send up our prayers, and our souls in prayer, to God. He calls this prayer Maschil-a psalm of instruction, because of the good lessons he had himself learnt in the cave, learnt on his knees, which he desired to teach others. In these verses observe,
Psa 142:4-7
The psalmist here tells us, for our instruction,