Psalm 43

¹Vindicate me, O God!

Fight for me against an ungodly nation!

Deliver me from deceitful and evil men!

²For you are the God who shelters me.[#tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.]

Why do you reject me?

Why must I walk around mourning

because my enemies oppress me?

³Reveal your light and your faithfulness![#tn Heb “send.”; #sn God’s deliverance is compared here to a light which will lead the psalmist back home to the Lord’s temple. Divine deliverance will in turn demonstrate the Lord’s faithfulness to his people.]

They will lead me,

they will escort me back to your holy hill,

and to the place where you live.

⁴Then I will go to the altar of God,[#tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. Prefixed with the vav (ו) conjunctive it also expresses the result or outcome of the preceding verbs “lead” and “escort.”]

to the God who gives me ecstatic joy,

so that I express my thanks to you, O God, my God, with a harp.

⁵Why are you depressed, O my soul?[#tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”; #sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.]

Why are you upset?

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention.