Psalms 43

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1 Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

2 For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

3 O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.

4 Then 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.

5 Why 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.

World Behind This Chapter

Explore the people, places, language, history, and material world connected to Psalms 43.

QUESTIONS WORTH EXPLORING

What stands out about a companion plea for light and truth to lead back to altar and sanctuary in Psalm 43?

Psalm 43 builds its movement around a companion plea for light and truth to lead back to altar and sanctuary. Tracking repeated words, parallel lines, changes of speaker, and image clusters shows how the poem develops before assigning a later interpretation.

What world does Psalm 43 ask the reader to picture?

The poem evokes route back toward altar and sanctuary. Those settings may be literal, remembered, ritual, or metaphorical; distinguishing those possibilities is part of reading Hebrew poetry carefully.

Sources to ExploreCurated research paths for this chapter 2
History & Daily Life1
  • TempleWorld History Encyclopedia

    Introduces temples as sacred centers of ritual, music, offerings, identity, and divine presence in ancient societies. Provides broad cultural context for the speaker's longing to reach the holy hill, altar, and dwelling place associated with worship.

Language & Literature1
  • Psalms 42–43 as a Connected CompositionHarvard Theological Review

    Scholarly abstract examining Psalms 42–43 together and showing how thirst, tears, waterfalls, longing, trust, and doubt form an interconnected pattern. The repeated refrain and absence of a separate heading for Psalm 43 have led many scholars to read the two psalms as one composition.

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