Old Testament
Psalms 43
Overview
A short lament that completes the prayer begun in Psalm 42, this psalm cries out for God to vindicate the psalmist against an ungodly nation and a deceitful, unjust man. The longing crystallizes into a single goal: to be led by God's light and truth back to his holy hill and altar, to God his "exceeding joy." It ends with the same refrain, again preaching hope to the downcast soul.
1Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
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?
3O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
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.
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.