Mazmur 43:1-3
Konteks43:1 Vindicate me, O God!
Fight for me 2 against an ungodly nation!
Deliver me 3 from deceitful and evil men! 4
43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. 5
Why do you reject me? 6
Why must I walk around 7 mourning 8
because my enemies oppress me?
43:3 Reveal 9 your light 10 and your faithfulness!
They will lead me, 11
they will escort 12 me back to your holy hill, 13
and to the place where you live. 14
[43:1] 1 sn Psalm 43. Many medieval Hebrew
[43:1] 2 tn Or “argue my case.”
[43:1] 3 tn The imperfect here expresses a request or wish. Note the imperatives in the first half of the verse. See also v. 3.
[43:1] 4 tn Heb “from the deceitful and evil man.” The Hebrew text uses the singular form “man” in a collective sense, as the reference to a “nation” in the parallel line indicates.
[43:2] 5 tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.
[43:2] 6 tn The question is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but זָנַח (zanakh, “reject”) is a stronger verb than שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”).
[43:2] 7 tn The language is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but the Hitpael form of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh; as opposed to the Qal form in 42:9) expresses more forcefully the continuing nature of the psalmist’s distress.
[43:2] 8 sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.
[43:3] 10 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.
[43:3] 11 tn Or “may they lead me.” The prefixed verbal forms here and in the next line may be taken as jussives.
[43:3] 13 sn In this context the Lord’s holy hill is Zion/Jerusalem. See Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 48:1; 87:1; Dan 9:16.
[43:3] 14 tn Or “to your dwelling place[s].” The plural form of the noun may indicate degree or quality; this is the