Psalm 143

¹ Lord, hear my pray’r, attend my suits;

and in thy faithfulness

Give thou an answer unto me,

and in thy righteousness.

² Thy servant also bring thou not

in judgment to be try’d:

Because no living man can be

in thy sight justify’d.

³ For th’ en’my hath pursu’d my soul,

my life to ground down tread:

In darkness he hath made me dwell,

as who have long been dead.

⁴ My sp’rit is therefore overwhelm’d

in me perplexedly;

Within me is my very heart

amazed wondrously.

⁵ I call to mind the days of old,

to meditate I use

On all thy works; upon the deeds

I of thy hands do muse.

⁶ My hands to thee I stretch; my soul

thirsts, as dry land, for thee. Selah.

⁷ Haste, Lord, to hear, my spirit fails:

hide not thy face from me;

Lest like to them I do become

that go down to the dust.

⁸ At morn let me thy kindness hear;

for in thee do I trust.

Teach me the way that I should walk:

I lift my soul to thee.

⁹ Lord, free me from my foes; I flee

to thee to cover me.

¹⁰ Because thou art my God, to do

thy will do me instruct:

Thy Sp’rit is good, me to the land

of uprightness conduct.

¹¹ Revive and quicken me, O Lord,

ev’n for thine own name’s sake;

And do thou, for thy righteousness,

my soul from trouble take.

¹² And of thy mercy slay my foes;

let all destroyed be

That do afflict my soul: for I

a servant am to thee.