to snatch away · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
persecutors
מֵרֹדְפַ֑יme.ro.de.Fai
H7291
to run after (usually with hostile intent · preposition + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
stronger
אָמְצ֣וּ'a.me.Tzu
H553
to be alert · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 79:8 O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.
Psalms 116:6 The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.
Psalms 136:23 Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever:
Psalms 17:1 Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.
Psalms 18:17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
Psalms 57:3-4 He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his trut…
Romans 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 142:4–end
The psalmist here tells us, for our instruction, 1. How he was disowned and deserted by his friends, Psa 142:4. When he was in favour at court he seemed to have a great interest, but when he was made an out-law, and it was dangerous for any one to harbour him (witness Ahimelech's fate), then no man would know him, but every body was shy of him. He looked on his right hand for an advocate (Psa 109:31), some friend or other to speak a good word for him; but, since Jonathan's appearing for him had like to have cost him his life, nobody was willing to venture in defence of his innocency, but all were ready to say they knew nothing of the matter. He looked round to see if any would open their doo…
Attend unto my cry,.... His prayer and supplication for help in his distress, which he desires might be hearkened unto and answered;
for I am brought very low; in his spirit, in the exercise of grace, being in great affliction, and reduced to the utmost extremity, weakened, impoverished, and exhausted; wanting both men and money to assist him, Psalm 79:8;
deliver me from my persecutors; Saul and his men, who were in pursuit of him with great warmth and eagerness;
for they are stronger than I; more in number, and greater in strength; Saul had with him three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, ablebodied men, and expert in war; veteran troops, and in high spirits, with their king at the…
Psalm 142:5-7
5. I cried unto thee, O Jehovah! I said thou art my hope and my portion in the land of the living. 6. Attend unto my cry, for I labor very much under affliction: deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. 7. Rescue my soul from prison, that I may praise thy name; the righteous shall crown me, for thou wilt recompense me.
5. I cried unto thee, O Jehovah! With a view to hasten God's interposition, David complains of the low estate he was reduced to, and of his extremity; the term cry denoting vehemence, as I have elsewhere noticed. He speaks of deliverance as being plainly needed, since he was now held a prisoner. By prison some suppose he alludes to the cave…
The Church Fathers
Deliver me from those who persecute me, for they have been made stronger than I. Those who fight against us are stronger than we are, that is, the princes of this world.
Attend to my supplication, for I have been humbled exceedingly. Unless someone has been humbled, he is not heard by the Lord. For what does it profit anyone to pray with words and to keep his neck held erect? But if we understand it of the Lord: "Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart."
"Give heed unto my prayer, for much have I been humbled" (ver. 6). Humbled by persecutors, humbled in confession. He humbleth himself out of the sight of man: he is humbled by enemies in their sight. Therefore is he lifted up by Him both visibly and invisibly. Invisibly are the martyrs already lifted up; visibly shall they be lifted up, "when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption" in the resurrection of the dead; when this very part of him, against which alone her persecutors could rage, shall be renewed. "Fear not them that kill the body, but cannot kill the soul." And what perisheth? what kill they? ...Why then art thou anxious about the rest of thy members, when thou shall not lose even a hair? "Deliver me from them that persecute me." From whom thinkest thou that he prayeth to be delivered? From men who persecuted him? Is it so? are merely men our enemies? We have other enemies, invisible, who persecute us in another way. Man persecuteth, that he may slay the body; another persecuteth, that he ensnare the soul. ...There are then other enemies of ours too, from whom we ought to pray God to deliver us, lest they lead us astray, either by crushing us with troubles of this world, or alluring us by its enticements. Who are these enemies? Let us see whether they are plainly described by any servant of the Lord, by any soldier, now perfected, who hath engaged with them. Hear the Apostle saying, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood:" as though he would say, Turn not your hatred against men; think not them your enemies; think not that it is by their hostility you are being bruised; these men whom ye fear are flesh and blood. ..."For they are strengthened over me." Who said, "they are strengthened over me"? The Body of Christ crieth out; it is the voice of the Church; the members of Christ cry out, "Much hath the number of sinners increased." "Because iniquity hath abounded, the love of many waxeth cold."
His request now ascends all the more confident of being answered, and becomes calm, being well-grounded in his feebleness and the superiority of his enemies, and aiming at the glorifying of the divine Name. In Psa 142:7 רנּתי calls to mind Psa 17:1; the first confirmation, Psa 79:8, and the second, Psa 18:18. But this is the only passage in the whole Psalter where the poet designates the "distress" in which he finds himself as a prison (מסגּר). V. 8b brings the whole congregation of the righteous in in the praising of the divine Name. The poet therefore does not after all find himself so absolutely alone, as it might seem according to Psa 142:5. He is far from regarding himself as the only r…
Though overwhelmed by loneliness and trouble, the psalmist focuses on the Lord’s goodness and protection. He knows that the Lord alone is his Redeemer, so he offers his praise.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 142:6
Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
Attend unto my cry. Men of God look upon prayer as a reality, and they are not content without having an audience with God; moreover, they have such confidence in the Lord's condescending grace, that they hope he will even attend to that poor broken prayer which can only be described as a cry. For I am brought very low, and therefore all the prayer I can raise is a mournful cry. This is his argument with God: he is reduced to such a sad condition that if he be not rescued he will be ruined. Gracious men may not only be low, but very low; and this should not be a reason for their doub…
