properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
speedily
מַהֵרmahêr
H4118
properly
LORD
יְהוָה֮Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
spirit
ר֫וּחִ֥יru.Chi
H7307
wind · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 1st person feminine singular
faileth
כָּלְתָ֪הkal.Tah
H3615
to end · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
hide
תַּסְתֵּ֣רtas.Ter
H5641
to hide (by covering) · verb, hiphil jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
face
פָּנֶ֣יךָpa.Nei.kha
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
like
וְ֝נִמְשַׁ֗לְתִּיve.nim.Shal.ti
H4911
to liken · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
down
יֹ֥רְדֵיYo.re.dei
H3381
to descend (literally · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct
pit
בֽוֹרVor
H953
a pit hole (especially one used as a cistern or a priso… · noun, common masculine singular absolute
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 69:17 And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.
Psalms 28:1 Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
Psalms 27:9 Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salv…
Psalms 71:12 O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.
Psalms 69:3 I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
Psalms 70:5 But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.
Psalms 88:4-6 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
Psalms 102:2 Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 143:7–end
David here tells us what he said when he stretched forth his hands unto God; he begins not only as one in earnest, but as one in haste: "Hear me speedily, and defer no longer, for my spirit faileth. I am just ready to faint; reach the cordial - quickly, quickly, or I am gone." It was not a haste of unbelief, but of vehement desire and holy love. Make haste, O God! to help me. Three things David here prays for: -
I. The manifestations of God's favour towards him, that God would be well pleased with him and let him know that he was so; this he prefers before any good, Psa 4:6. 1. He dreads God's frowns: "Lord, hide not thy face from me; Lord, be not angry with me, do not turn from me, as we d…
Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth,.... Ready to sink, swoon, and faint away, through the weight of the affliction on him, by reason of the persecution of his enemy, and for want of the divine Presence; hence the Targum renders it,
"my spirit desireth thee;''
see Sol 5:6; and therefore entreats that God would hear and answer him quickly; or, "make haste to answer" him, and not delay, lest he should be quite gone. Wherefore it follows,
hide not thy face from me; nothing is more desirable to a good man than the "face" or presence of God, the light of his countenance, and sensible communion with him; which may be said to be "hid" when he withdraws his gracious presence, and withhold…
Psalm 143:4-7
4. And my spirit is perplexed within me, my heart within me is astonished. 5. I remembered the days of old, I meditated upon all thy works; I meditated upon the work of thy hands. 6. I spread out my hands to thee, my soul is to thee as the earth without water. [251] Selah. 7. Hasten, answer me, O Jehovah! my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, because I shall be like to those descending into the pit.
4. And my spirit, etc. Hitherto he has spoken of the troubles that were without, now he acknowledges the feebleness of his spirits, from which it is evident that his strength, vas not like that of the rock, imperturbable or without feeling, but that, while overwhelmed with…
The Church Fathers
Hear me speedily, O Lord, my spirit has failed. My soul has failed, my flesh has failed: my spirit alone remained in me, and it too has failed: but hear me speedily, and have mercy on me.
"Speedily hear me, Lord" [Psalm 143:7]. For what need of delay to inflame my thirst, when already I thirst so eagerly? Thou didst delay the rain, that I might drink and imbibe, not reject, Thy inflowing. If then Thou didst for this cause delay, now give; for "my spirit hath failed." Let Thy Spirit fill me. This is the reason why Thou shouldest speedily hear me. I am now become "poor in spirit," make Thou me "blessed in the kingdom of heaven." For he in whom his own spirit liveth, is proud, is puffed up with his own spirit against God. ... "Turn not Thou away Thy Face from me." Thou didst turn it away from me when proud. For once I was full, and in my fulness I was puffed up. Once "in my fulness I said, I shall never be moved." "I said in my fulness, I shall not be moved," knowing not Thy Righteousness, and establishing mine own; but "Thou, Lord, in Thy Will hast afforded strength to my beauty." "I said in my fulness, I shall not be moved," but from Thee came whatever fulness I had. And to prove to me that it was from Thee, "Thou didst turn away Thy Face from me, and I was troubled." After this trouble, whereinto I was cast, because Thou didst turn away Thy Face, after the weariness of my spirit, after my heart was troubled within me, because Thou didst turn away Thy Face, then became I "like a land without water to Thee: turn not Thou away Thy Face." Thou turnedst it away from me when proud; give it back to me now I am humble. Because, if Thou turn it away, "I shall be like to them that go down into the pit." What is, "that go down into the pit"? When the sinner has come into the depth of sins, he will show contempt. They "go down into the pit," who lose even confession; against which is said, "Let not the pit close her mouth over me." This depth Scripture calleth mostly "a pit," into which depth when a sinner hath come, "he showeth contempt." What is, "he showeth contempt"? He no longer believeth in Providence, or if he do believe, he thinketh that he has no longer aught to do with it. ...
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
In this second half the Psalm seems still more like a reproduction of the thoughts of earlier Psalms. The prayer, "answer me speedily, hide not Thy face from me," sounds like Psa 69:18; Psa 27:9, cf. Psa 102:3. The expression of languishing longing, כּלתה רוּחי, is like Psa 84:3. And the apodosis, "else I should become like those who go down into the pit," agrees word for word with Psa 28:1, cf. Psa 88:5. In connection with the words, "cause me to hear Thy loving-kindness in the early morning," one is reminded of the similar prayer of Moses in Psa 90:14, and with the confirmatory "for in Thee do I trust" of Psa 25:2, and frequently. With the prayer that the night of affliction may have an en…
The psalmist petitions the Lord for a renewal of his love.
143:7 The psalmist experiences depression. He feels that he is dying from anguish (31:10; 119:87), exhausted (39:10; 71:9; 119:81), fainting with longing (84:2), and overwhelmed by the weariness of life (90:7, 9).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 143:7
Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth. If long delayed, the deliverance would come too late. The afflicted suppliant faints, and is ready to die. His life is ebbing out; each moment is of importance; it will soon be all over with him. No argument for speed can be more powerful than this. Who will not run to help a suppliant when his life is in jeopardy? Mercy has wings to its heels when misery is in extremity. God will not fail when our spirit fails, but the rather he will hasten his course and come to us on the wings of the wind. Hide not thy face from me, lest…
