Psalm 43
Psalm 43 is the 43rd psalm of the Book of Psalms, known in the English King James Version as "Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 42. In Latin, it is known as "Iudica me Deus". It is commonly attributed to the sons of Korah. In the Hebrew Bible, it comes within the second of the five books of Psalms, also known as the "Elohistic Psalter" because the word YHWH is rarely used and God is generally referred to as "Elohim".
The psalm forms a regular part of Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and other Protestant liturgies.
Uses
Catholic Church
This psalm was traditionally recited or sung, following the Rule of St. Benedict of 530 AD, in the Office for the Lauds of Tuesday, following Psalm 50.Traditionally, a priest would recite the psalm before he ascended the altar to celebrate Mass. In the Roman Rite, the traditional Tridentine Mass has the psalm said by the priest and altar servers in call-and-response format, as part of prayers at the foot of the altar which initiated the Mass of the Catechumens. It is not said at Requiem Masses and Masses in Passiontide, as the fifth Sunday in Lent instead has the psalm for its Introit. Recitation of this psalm at the start of Mass was discontinued in 1964, with the Instruction on Implementing Liturgical Norms, Inter Oecumenici.
In the present Liturgy of the Hours, Psalm 43 is recited or sung at Lauds on the Tuesday of the second week in the four-week psalter.
Coptic Orthodox Church
In the Agpeya, the Coptic Church's book of hours, this psalm is prayed in the office of Terce. It is also in the Prayer of the Veil, which is generally prayed only by monks.Book of Common Prayer
In the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, this psalm is appointed to be read on the evening of the eighth day of the month.Text
The following table shows the Hebrew text of the Psalm with vowels, alongside the Koine Greek text in the Septuagint and the English translation from the King James Version. Note that the meaning can slightly differ between these versions, as the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text come from different textual traditions. In the Septuagint, this psalm is numbered Psalm 42.| # | Hebrew | English | Greek |
| 1 | Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. | Ψαλμὸς τῷ Δαυΐδ. - ΚΡΙΝΟΝ με, ὁ Θεός, καὶ δίκασον τὴν δίκην μου ἐξ ἔθνους οὐχ ὁσίου· ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπου ἀδίκου καὶ δολίου ῥῦσαί με. | |
| 2 | For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? | ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ Θεὸς κραταίωμά μου· ἱνατί ἀπώσω με; καὶ ἱνατί σκυθρωπάζων πορεύομαι ἐν τῷ ἐκθλίβειν τὸν ἐχθρόν μου; | |
| 3 | O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. | ἐξαπόστειλον τὸ φῶς σου καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου· αὐτά με ὡδήγησαν καὶ ἤγαγόν με εἰς ὄρος ἅγιόν σου καὶ εἰς τὰ σκηνώματά σου. | |
| 4 | Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. | καὶ εἰσελεύσομαι πρὸς τὸ θυσιαστήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ, πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν τὸν εὐφραίνοντα τὴν νεότητά μου· ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι ἐν κιθάρᾳ, ὁ Θεός, ὁ Θεός μου. | |
| 5 | Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. | ἱνατί περίλυπος εἶ, ἡ ψυχή μου; καὶ ἱνατί συνταράσσεις με; ἔλπισον ἐπὶ τὸν Θεόν, ὅτι ἐξομολογήσομαι αὐτῷ· σωτήριον τοῦ προσώπου μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου. |