What does Psalms Chapter 143 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Battle instruction joins refuge, support and mortal shadow. Requested descent and rescue precede future song. Material prosperity leads to the contrast in named happiness.

Chapter breakdown

Benedictus Dominus is the incipit. The heading names praise, enemy-delivery prayer and worldly happiness compared with serving God; the inscription is David against Goliath. No previous Goliath triumph scene is imported. He blesses God teaching hands to fight and fingers to war, naming mercy, refuge, support, deliverer and protector in whom he hoped, subduing my people under me. Nations is not substituted for my people. He asks what man is to be known and accounted, calling human days vanity and passing shadow.

He asks heavens bowed and descent, mountain touch with smoking, lightning sending to scatter and arrows to trouble, high hand extended to remove from many waters and strange children. Mouth speaks vanity and right hand iniquity. He will sing new canticle on psaltery and an instrument of ten strings, not a collapsed single instrument. God gives kings salvation and redeemed David from malicious sword; he repeats delivery from strange children without assigning the sword to them as a supplied fact.

Their sons are youthful plants, daughters adorned like temple, storehouses full flowing, sheep fruitful and abounding, oxen fat. There is no wall breach, passage or street crying. Colonnades, hostile invasion and a defined pagan society are not inserted. They called those possessing such goods happy, but happy is the people whose God is the Lord. The attributed contrast is not a demonstrated universal formula for every victory or exclusive guarantee of civic peace.

The story inside

Opening: Battle instruction joins refuge, support and mortal shadow. Development: Requested descent and rescue precede future song. Conclusion: Material prosperity leads to the contrast in named happiness.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Battle instruction joins refuge, support and mortal shadow.
2
Requested descent and rescue precede future song.
3
Material prosperity leads to the contrast in named happiness.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 66871–66878
143:1. Blessed be the Lord my God, who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war. 143:2. My mercy, and my refuge: my support, and my deliverer: My protector, and I have hoped in him: who subdueth my people under me. 143:3. Lord, what is man, that thou art made known to him? or the son of man, that thou makest account of him?
Lines 66888–66898
143:7. Put forth thy hand from on high, take me out, and deliver me from many waters: from the hand of strange children: 143:8. Whose mouth hath spoken vanity: and their right hand is the right hand of iniquity. 143:9. To thee, O God, I will sing a new canticle: on the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings I will sing praises to thee. 143:10. Who givest salvation to kings: who hast redeemed thy servant David from the malicious sword:
Lines 66904–66914
143:12. Whose sons are as new plants in their youth: Their daughters decked out, adorned round about after the similitude of a temple: 143:13. Their storehouses full, flowing out of this into that. Their sheep fruitful in young, abounding in their goings forth: 143:14. Their oxen fat. There is no breach of wall, nor passage, nor crying out in their streets. 143:15. They have called the people happy, that hath these things: but happy is that people whose God is the Lord.