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Easter Season · A Ninth Reading Easter Vigil · Year B

Psalm 143

My Soul Thirsts for You

March 28, 2027

The Scapegoat, William Holman Hunt
The Scapegoat, William Holman Hunt, 1854Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight
Hunt took a goat and an easel to the salt flats of the Dead Sea and painted it on the spot, at some danger to himself. Nobody knew what to make of it.Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. Psalm 143 is a plea from someone who knows the charge is fair, and the goat is what was done about it.William Holman HuntA founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the only one who kept its principles for life, travelling to Palestine to paint biblical scenes on the ground.Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port SunlightBuilt by the soap manufacturer Lord Leverhulme in his model village for workers, and holding his own collection.Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight
Revised Common Lectionary
Old TestamentEzek. 37:1-14Ez 37:1-14
PsalterPs. 143Ps 143

Overview & Insights

“My soul thirsts for you like a parched land.” (Psalm 143:6)

This individual prayer psalm is highly formulaic, that is, it consists of stock phrases repeated elsewhere in the Psalms (v. 3 // 7:5; Lam. 3:6; v. 4 // 77:3; 142:3; vv. 5–6 // 77:2, 5, 12; v. 6 // 63:1; v. 7 // 69:17; 88:4, 14; 102:2; v. 8 // 90:14; in general cf. Pss. 25; 86; further parallels listed in Culley, Oral Formulaic Language , p. 107). Yet it reflects an intimacy with God that is strikingly singular among the psalms.

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Commentary

Psalm 143 (Hope for the Persecuted Soul)Ps 143 (Hope for the Persecuted Soul) Enduring Word · David Guzik

David Guzik's verse by verse study of David's plea for mercy and morning deliverance, the last penitential psalm.

Psalm 143:1 Commentaries (BibleHub)Ps 143:1 Commentaries (BibleHub) BibleHub

Parallel classic commentaries assembled verse by verse across the whole psalm.

Background & Word Study

Psalms 143 (Sefaria)Ps 143 (Sefaria) Sefaria

The Hebrew psalm with English alongside for study of its plea for the Lord's steadfast love.

Psalm 143:1 Interlinear (BibleHub)Ps 143:1 Interlinear (BibleHub) BibleHub

Word by word Hebrew interlinear with parsing and Strong's numbers for the opening prayer.

The Church Fathers

Psalms 143 (Catena Bible)Ps 143 (Catena Bible) Catena

Early and medieval commentary on the psalm gathered verse by verse.

Questions preachers ask

What is Psalm 143?

A prayer of one pursued and faint of spirit, thirsting for God like dry ground and asking to be taught the way he should go, for he lifts up his soul to the Lord.

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