Psalm 143 is one of the great penitential prayers of Scripture. It begins with an appeal to God’s truth and righteousness, immediately rejects self-justification, remembers the days of old, thirsts like dry land, asks for morning mercy, and ends by asking the good Spirit to guide the soul in the straight way. The Psalm is not shallow comfort. It is a theology of grace in prayer form.
The Fathers read it with serious depth. Theodoret keeps David’s historical grief before Absalom: David suffers consequences of his sins, but Absalom is lawless and parricidal. Augustine hears whole Christ: the Head in His Passion and the Body in repentance. The line “for in thy sight shall no man living be justified” becomes a school against pride. The line “Teach me to do thy will” becomes a confession that God is not only the giver of commands but the giver of grace to obey.
The Coptic lectionary confirms the Psalm’s weight. It is prayed in the First Hour of the Agpeya, appears in Great Lent, and Psalm 143:6-7 is placed at Good Friday Eleventh Hour with Psalm 31:5 and the Gospel accounts after Christ’s death. The Church hears this Psalm at morning, in repentance, and at the foot of the Cross.
Psalm 143 (LXX 142) - Teach Me to Do Thy Will
Psalm Metadata
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| NKJV / Masoretic numbering | Psalm 143 |
| Septuagint / Coptic numbering | Psalm 142 |
| Accepted author | David by the superscription. |
| Period in author’s life | LXX/Brenton: when his son pursued him. Theodoret says the Absalom wording is not in all witnesses but fits the facts of David’s flight in 2 Samuel 15. |
| Christ prophecy status | Penitential and Christological by fulfillment. Augustine hears the Head and Body speaking together, with Christ’s Passion and the Church’s confession of grace both present. |
| Coptic lectionary/service use | Verified First Hour Agpeya; Good Friday Eleventh Hour Psalm 143:6,7 with Psalm 31:5 and Passion Gospels; Great Lent rows for Psalm 143:1-2 and 143:7,1; Sunday rows for Psalm 143:6-8 and 143:10,8. |
| Numbering issue | This note embeds Brenton LXX Psalm 142. Agpeya display_ref prints Psalm 142 (143), while canonical source_ref uses Psalm 143. |
Historical and Scriptural Context
The superscription in Brenton says, “A Psalm of David, when his son pursued him.” Theodoret notes that some copies explicitly mention Absalom while others do not, but he says the theme fits the facts. The historical setting is 2 Samuel 15: David leaves Jerusalem barefoot, weeping, humiliated, and pursued by his own son. That history explains the Psalm’s mixture of guilt, persecution, sorrow, and hope.
The Psalm is penitential because David does not claim innocence before God: “enter not into judgment with thy servant.” Yet it is also a persecution Psalm because an enemy has pursued his soul and brought his life down to the ground. The spiritual depth comes from holding both truths together. David can be guilty before God and still wronged by Absalom. Repentance does not require pretending evil is not evil. It requires refusing to stand before God on one’s own righteousness.
Augustine’s exposition makes this a doctrine of grace. “In Thy righteousness” does not mean God owes David acquittal. It means salvation comes from God’s righteousness given to the soul. Augustine says, “when I look upon myself, nought else do I find mine own, save sin.” This is blunt, but it is not despair. It is the doorway into mercy.
Geographical Significance ⛰️
Historically, the geography is David’s flight from Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives, and the wilderness path of humiliation. Theodoret points to David leaving unshod and in tears. Spiritually, the geography is morning after night. The soul has been in darkness like those long dead, but it asks to hear mercy in the morning.
Liturgically, the geography is even richer. The Agpeya places Psalm 143 in the First Hour, the beginning of the day. Great Lent places its penitential lines in the journey of repentance. Good Friday places Psalm 143:6-7 at the Eleventh Hour near the dead Christ, with “I stretched forth my hands” and “my soul thirsts” heard beside the Passion Gospels and Psalm 31:5, “Into Your hands I commit my spirit.”
The Characters 👥
David. The penitent king, humiliated and pursued, who asks for mercy without claiming innocence.
Absalom. The rebellious son and unjust pursuer in the historical reading.
The enemy. The persecutor who brings life down to the ground; spiritually, the devil and every force that drags the soul from heavenly hope to earthly despair.
Christ the Head. Augustine hears the Passion in the darkness, thirst, abandonment, and deliverance language.
The Church as Body. The faithful confess that no living person is justified before God apart from grace.
The good Spirit. The divine guide who leads the soul in the straight way.
🕯️ Light from the Word
Psalm 142:1-2, truth, righteousness, and the end of self-justification
142:1 A Psalm of David, when his son pursued him. O Lord, attend to my prayer: hearken to my supplication in thy truth; hear me in thy righteousness.
142:2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
The Psalm begins by asking to be heard in God’s truth and righteousness, but immediately rejects the idea that the servant can survive judgment on his own merit. This is not contradiction. It is repentance. God’s righteousness is the hope of the sinner because it is joined to mercy and grace.
Theodoret explains the historical tension. David is paying the penalty for his own sins, yet Absalom is unjust and parricidal. David therefore asks God to judge truthfully without pretending he himself is sinless. That is spiritually mature prayer. It does not deny guilt, and it does not call evil good.
Augustine makes the anti-pride point directly:
“For when I look upon myself, nought else do I find mine own, save sin.”
He then connects verse 2 with the Lord’s Prayer. Even the Apostles were taught to say, “Forgive us our debts.” Augustine says they answer, “for in Thy sight every one living shall not be justified.” The Psalm therefore protects the Church from spiritual arrogance. No office, service, knowledge, fasting, or ministry gives a person standing before God apart from mercy.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “in thy truth”; “in thy righteousness”; “enter not into judgment”; “no man living.”
- Emphasize: repentance can ask for justice without claiming personal sinlessness.
- Avoid: teaching grace as vague kindness. The Psalm is about God’s righteousness saving sinners.
Psalm 142:3-4, persecution, darkness, and the fainting spirit
142:3 For the enemy has persecuted my soul; he has brought my life down to the ground; he has made me to dwell in a dark place, as those that have been long dead.
142:4 Therefore my spirit was grieved in me; my heart was troubled within me.
The enemy does not merely attack circumstances. He persecutes the soul. Augustine says the persecutor’s aim is to make us abandon heavenly hope and love earthly things. That is the real battle. The enemy wants the soul lowered to the ground.
The darkness line has both historical and Christological depth. David is driven out and humiliated. Christ enters death and the tomb. Augustine says, “Here we speak, here our Head speaketh for us,” then points to the devil persecuting the soul of Christ and Judas betraying his Master. This is why Good Friday can receive this Psalm without forcing it. The innocent Christ enters the darkness where guilty humanity lies.
The heart’s trouble is not condemned. The Psalm is honest about grief. Theodoret paraphrases the spirit’s fainting as deep depression and distress. The faithful do not have to pretend that spiritual life removes anguish. They must bring anguish into prayer.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “persecuted my soul”; “down to the ground”; “dark place”; “my spirit was grieved.”
- Emphasize: the enemy wants the soul to abandon heavenly hope.
- Avoid: treating emotional grief as spiritual failure.
Psalm 142:5-8, memory, thirst, and morning mercy
142:5 I remembered the days of old; and I meditated on all thy doings: yea, I meditated on the works of thine hands.
142:6 I spread forth my hands to thee; my soul thirsts for thee, as a dry land. Pause.
142:7 Hear me speedily, O Lord; my spirit has failed; turn not away thy face from me, else I shall be like to them that go down to the pit.
142:8 Cause me to hear thy mercy in the morning; for I have hoped in thee; make known to me, O Lord, the way wherein I should walk; for I have lifted up my soul to thee.
When the present is dark, David remembers the days of old. This is not nostalgia. It is theological memory. He remembers God’s works so that his current suffering is not allowed to define God. Theodoret says David recalled the deliverances of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, and drew comfort from them.
The thirst line is intense: “my soul thirsts for thee, as a dry land.” Dry land cannot heal itself by trying harder. It must receive rain. This is grace again. The soul stretches out its hands not because it is full, but because it is empty.
Good Friday gives this line added force. Verified Pascha data places Psalm 143:6-7 with Psalm 31:5 at Good Friday Eleventh Hour, alongside Matthew 27:51-56, Mark 15:38-41, Luke 23:47-49, and John 19:31-37. The Church hears “I stretched forth my hands” and “my soul thirsts” as Christ hangs dead or near death, His side pierced, His body given, His Spirit commended to the Father.
Augustine interprets “morning” eschatologically:
“‘Morning’ then he calleth the time after the end of the world, when we shall see what in this world we believe.”
But he does not let us wait passively. He adds that while we wait for morning, “God is to be sought with the hands in the night,” meaning good works. Hope for morning does not excuse laziness in the night.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “remembered”; “my soul thirsts”; “turn not away thy face”; “mercy in the morning.”
- Emphasize: memory, thirst, and hope are acts of faith in darkness.
- Avoid: making morning mercy only immediate relief. Augustine also reads it as final vision.
Psalm 142:9-12, refuge, the good Spirit, and life for the sake of God’s name
142:9 Deliver me from mine enemies, O Lord; for I have fled to thee for refuge.
142:10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God; thy good Spirit shall guide me in the straight way.
142:11 Thou shalt quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake; in thy righteousness thou shalt bring my soul out of affliction.
142:12 And in thy mercy thou wilt destroy mine enemies, and wilt destroy all those that afflict my soul; for I am thy servant.
The Psalm ends with discipleship, not merely rescue. “Teach me to do thy will” asks not only for information but for formed obedience. Augustine says this should be held fast because it commends grace. If God is truly my God, then I am not my own master.
Augustine’s line should be quoted because it exposes the illusion of self-rule:
“Teach Thou me: for it cannot be that Thou art my God, and yet I am to be mine own master.”
The Spirit is central. Theodoret writes, “Here we learned the dignity of the Spirit: as God is good, so too is the Spirit called good.” Augustine contrasts God’s good Spirit with the human bad spirit that led the soul into crooked land. The straight way is not found by willpower alone. It is walked by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The final appeal is for God’s name’s sake. The Psalmist’s hope is not his own worthiness but God’s mercy, righteousness, and name. That makes the prayer strong. If salvation depended on David’s record, verse 2 already closed the case. But because salvation rests on God’s name, the soul can ask to be quickened.
The destruction of enemies must be taught carefully. In a Christian reading, the deepest enemies are sin, death, the devil, despair, and every passion that afflicts the soul. Human enemies are entrusted to God’s justice. The Church prays this line as a cry for mercy toward the wronged and liberation from the powers that destroy life.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “I have fled to thee”; “Teach me”; “thy good Spirit”; “for thy name’s sake.”
- Emphasize: obedience itself is grace, and the Holy Spirit guides the straight path.
- Avoid: making the final verse a personal revenge prayer.
The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖
Verified local Agpeya rows place Psalm 143 in the First Hour, displayed as Psalm 142 (143). This is spiritually perfect. The day begins with confession that no living person is justified before God, with thirst for mercy, and with the request that the good Spirit guide the path.
Good Friday Eleventh Hour uses Psalm 143:6,7 with Psalm 31:5 and the Passion Gospels: Matthew 27:51-56, Mark 15:38-41, Luke 23:47-49, and John 19:31-37. The Psalm’s stretched hands, thirsting soul, failed spirit, and fear of the pit are heard at the Cross. Christ enters the pit so that the servant can hear mercy in the morning.
Great Lent rows preserve Psalm 143:1-2 for Saturday of the fifth week Liturgy and Psalm 143:7,1 for Sunday of the sixth week Liturgy. This placement emphasizes penitence and mercy: God hears in righteousness, no one is justified by his own standing, and the soul asks not to be abandoned to the pit.
Additional Sunday rows use Psalm 143:6-7 and Psalm 143:8 or 143:10,8 in monthly and Nativity Fast contexts. The recurring themes are thirst, morning mercy, guidance, and the good Spirit. The lectionary does not treat Psalm 143 as one isolated penitential text. It becomes a repeated morning grammar for Christian life.
Iconography Connection 🖼️
Psalm 143 can be taught with David fleeing Absalom, Christ crucified with hands stretched out, the Descent into Hades, and the Holy Spirit guiding the Church. For First Hour use, an icon of Christ the true Light fits the plea for morning mercy. For Good Friday, place the Psalm beside the Cross and the pierced side.
Spiritual Fruit 🍇
- Renounce self-justification. No living person stands before God apart from mercy.
- Hold guilt and injustice truthfully. David can repent before God while naming Absalom’s evil.
- Remember God’s works in darkness. The days of old keep the present from redefining God.
- Thirst honestly. Dry land needs rain; the soul needs grace.
- Seek morning mercy. Hope looks toward the resurrection morning and the final day.
- Ask the Spirit to guide obedience. The straight way is walked by the good Spirit, not self-mastery.
Teacher's Notes
- Timing: 15 minutes on David and Absalom, 15 minutes on no one justified, 15 minutes on thirst and Good Friday, 15 minutes on the good Spirit and First Hour.
- Where to linger: Augustine’s line, “Teach Thou me: for it cannot be that Thou art my God, and yet I am to be mine own master.”
- Key phrase to say slowly: “Cause me to hear thy mercy in the morning.”
- Pastoral warning: this Psalm is not despair. Its honesty about sin is the beginning of grace.
Glossary
- No man living justified: A biblical rejection of self-righteousness before God.
- Dark place: Historical humiliation, spiritual distress, and Christ’s descent into death.
- Dry land: The soul in need of grace, unable to produce life from itself.
- Morning mercy: Resurrection hope, daily renewal, and final vision.
- Good Spirit: The Holy Spirit who guides the soul in the straight way.
- For Thy name’s sake: Salvation grounded in God’s character, not human merit.
Translation and Source Notes
Embedded Scripture is Brenton’s English Septuagint, Psalm 142. The study title uses NKJV Psalm 143 with LXX 142 in parentheses. Verified lectionary rows use canonical source_ref Psalm 143 and Agpeya display_ref Psalm 142 (143). Good Friday rows preserve Psalm 143:6,7 with Psalm 31:5 and the Passion Gospel set.
Sources
Primary sources: Brenton Septuagint, Psalm 142; 2 Samuel 15; Matthew 6:12; Romans 3:20-24; Galatians 2:16; 2 Peter 1:19; John 19:31-37; Luke 23:47-49; Mark 15:38-41; Matthew 27:51-56; Psalm 31:5; Romans 8:1-17; Ezekiel 36:26-27.
Patristic sources: St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm CXLIII in NPNF1 volume 8 via CCEL; Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Psalm 143; St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus; St Gregory of Nyssa, On the Inscriptions of the Psalms.
Coptic Orthodox / liturgical sources: Local Agpeya hour readings and passage index row for First Hour; local Pascha day-hour and lectionary references rows for Good Friday Eleventh Hour; Great Lent and Sunday lectionary rows for Psalm 143:1-2, 143:6-8, 143:7,1, and 143:10,8.