5 I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.
The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
Thou art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words.
Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
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,