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Psalm 43

Psalm 43 brings a plea for justice and restored worship to God while holding despair and hope together.

A worshiper facing deceit and oppression asks God to defend his cause and deliver him. The speaker is unnamed, and the circumstances are uncertain. He calls God his strength while asking why God has rejected him. His prayer turns toward God’s holy hill and altar, where he hopes to praise God with a harp. The psalm ends with the speaker addressing his own troubled soul, urging hope even as his distress remains unresolved.

feeling distant from Godinjustice and angerwaiting
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1Vindicate me, God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from deceitful and wicked men.
2For you are the God of my strength. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3Oh, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill, to your tents.
4Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy. I will praise you on the harp, God, my God.
5Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him: my Savior, my helper, and my God.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected. Tap a number for its page.
Key verses
Psalm 43:3The request for God’s light and truth turns the prayer toward guidance back to the place of worship.
Psalm 43:4The speaker anticipates reaching God’s altar, naming God himself as the source of his exceeding joy.
Psalm 43:5The closing address to his soul holds present despair beside the expectation that he will praise God again.
Where this chapter reaches

John shares the psalm’s language of light and truth, as well as its portrayal of a troubled soul turning to God. Isaiah and Micah also speak of God as light amid darkness and as the one who brings deliverance and vindication.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do you notice about calling God your strength while asking why he seems absent?

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How does the speaker’s longing for God’s altar shape what you might ask God for?

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Questions people ask about Psalm 43

Who wrote Psalm 43?

Psalm 43 does not name its author. The speaker describes oppression by enemies and longs to reach God’s holy hill and altar. These details show a worshiper seeking deliverance and renewed access to worship, but they do not establish a particular person or historical event.

What does “send out your light and your truth” mean in Psalm 43?

The speaker asks God’s light and truth to act as guides, leading him to God’s holy hill and dwelling place. In context, the request concerns God’s guidance and faithfulness amid deceit and oppression. Its stated destination is the altar, where the speaker expects to worship God with joy.

Why does Psalm 43 end by asking the soul to hope in God?

The speaker turns from addressing God to addressing his own soul. His despair is still present, and the psalm reports no change in his circumstances. The command to hope rests on who God is: his Savior, helper, and God. He expects praise to follow, though deliverance has not yet been described.

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Psalms · 150 chapters
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What the Bible says about doubt →What the Bible says about anger →What the Bible says about patience →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).