Chapter One Hundred Forty-Two

Written, according to the inscriptions of the Greek and Latin Bibles, during the persecutions by Absalom, the psalm presents a prayer to God for the speediest possible help and inner enlightenment of the persecuted writer.

O Lord! Hear me and do not enter into judgment with Your servant (1–2). The enemy persecutes me; I lose courage and am comforted only by meditation on Your deeds (3–5). I wait for Your help, as thirsty earth waits for rain. Grant me Your mercy and deliver from enemies (6–9). Teach me to fulfill Your will and destroy my enemies (10–12).

Psalm 142:1. O Lord! Hear my prayer, listen to my supplication in truth; hear me in Your righteousness Psalm 142:2. and do not enter into judgment with Your servant, because no one living is righteous before You. “Listen to my supplication in truth; hear me in Your righteousness.” Protect me, O Lord, unjustly persecuted and punish the persecutors, for they act wickedly; for You, O Lord, are the defender of righteousness.

Psalm 142:3. The enemy pursues my soul, crushes my life to the ground, forces me to live in darkness, like those long dead, – “Crushes my life to the ground” – danger threatens me with death, descent into the earth, into the grave.

Psalm 142:5. I remember the days of old, I meditate on all Your deeds, I ponder the works of Your hands. “I remember the days of old, I meditate on all Your deeds, I ponder the works of Your hands.” In the difficult circumstances of persecution David remembered the extraordinary mercy that the Lord showed in the history of the Hebrew people, reflected, as much as circumstances allowed, on all that He did, reflected also on all His creation. Evidently, these reflections had a soothing effect on David, as they revealed the extraordinary love of God toward all creation, therefore in the following verses David continues to turn to Him with a prayer for speedy help (6–7 vv.).

Psalm 142:8. Let me hear Your mercy in the morning, for in You do I trust. Show me, [O Lord,] the way in which I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul. Psalm 142:9. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; to You I have fled. Psalm 142:10. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; let Your good spirit lead me into the land of righteousness. “Let me hear Your mercy in the morning” – see speedy help. – “Show me... the way in which I should walk,” “Teach me to do Your will,” “let Your good spirit lead me into the land of righteousness” – these expressions are synonymous. Teach me, O Lord, unswerving adherence to Your commandments, so that I may be worthy to dwell in that land (Palestine) which You appointed only for the righteous.

Psalm 142:11. For Your name’s sake, O Lord, revive me; in Your righteousness bring my soul out of distress. “For Your name’s sake, O Lord, revive me” – so that I may be worthy to praise Your name, revive me through justification, inner purification from my shortcomings. Here – David’s acknowledgment of a certain uncleanness of his before God during his flight from enemies, – one of the signs of the psalm’s origin during the persecution by Absalom, which we have mentioned above. This psalm is the last in the hexapsalm. Having strengthened man in hope of obtaining salvation (Ps 102), the Church on behalf of the believers prays to God to show him the way of action (8 v.), teach him to fulfill His will and grant him the “land of righteousness” (10).