Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Psalms 143:1 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 1. 1Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 143:1: The petition “Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications” belongs to the prayer “A servant pleads for mercy, guidance, and life,” not to an isolated command.
A servant asks to be heard in faithfulness, and refuses a courtroom he cannot survive
This verse is one part of that explanation in Psalms 143:1–12. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Psalms 143:1–12
Read Psalms 143:1 with 143:1–12. Read alone, “Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications” could lose the individual voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 143:1–12, the individual voice carries the movement “A servant pleads for mercy, guidance, and life” as part of “A servant pleads for mercy, guidance, and life.” Its penitential-lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 143:1–12 opens Psalm 143 with “Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy…” and establishes the individual voice and “A servant pleads for mercy, guidance, and life” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 143:1 directs a petition or address toward God in “Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications” rather than turning the line into a command against another person.
Follow the Context
- Identify the individual voice, address, and parallel lines in Psalms 143:1–12; do not make every “I”, “we,” king, enemy, or worshiper interchangeable.
- Within Psalms 143:1–12, the individual voice carries the movement “A servant pleads for mercy, guidance, and life” as part of “A servant pleads for mercy, guidance, and life.” Its penitential-lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
- This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The prayer admits universal unrighteousness while seeking rescue; it does not make abuse deserved or authorize destruction of opponents.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Psalms 143:1 does not allow “Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications” to become an independent promise, command, accusation, doctrine, or authorization. This verse directs a petition or address toward God in “Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications” rather than turning the line into a command against another person. The complete movement is “A servant pleads for mercy, guidance, and life.” This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The prayer admits universal unrighteousness while seeking rescue; it does not make abuse deserved or authorize destruction of opponents.
What Remains True
Read “Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications” as part of the individual voice in “A servant pleads for mercy, guidance, and life.” Confession seeks mercy and changed life while preserving truth, consequences, restitution, safeguarding, and the dignity of people harmed. The local movement is “A servant pleads for mercy, guidance, and life.” The unit's reviewed limit is: The prayer admits universal unrighteousness while seeking rescue; it does not make abuse deserved or authorize destruction of opponents.
Teach It Back
Retell Psalm 143:1 as one step in Book V. Name the movement “A servant pleads for mercy, guidance, and life,” explain “Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications,” keep Jewish meaning and any later reception distinguishable, give one fitting response, and reject this overreach: This reading does not authorize the following misuse: The prayer admits universal unrighteousness while seeking rescue; it does not make abuse deserved or authorize destruction of opponents.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Psalms 143:1–12 — A servant pleads for mercy, guidance, and lifeSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
Where care is needed
The prayer admits universal unrighteousness while seeking rescue; it does not make abuse deserved or authorize destruction of opponents.
This Lens uses WHO guidance only to avoid unsafe modern communication about distress, isolation, death wishes, or severe loss; it does not diagnose the speaker or replace exegesis and appropriate care.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 143:1–12, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 143:1–12
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 143:1–12.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 143 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 143:1–12
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: individual and communal lament, from lament to praise, and Bible in the World; applied to Psalms 143:1–12
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 143 for Psalms 143:1–12
Open NETS Psalms ↗peer reviewed open access research overview
An Overview of the Study of Imprecatory Psalms: Reformed and Evangelical Approaches to the Interpretation of Imprecatory Psalms
Daniel Simango and P. Paul Krüger
Old Testament Essays 29.3, 2016
Supports: Major historical, literary, covenantal, ethical, and reception approaches to curses and enemy language.
Exact location: Simango and Krüger, 'An Overview of the Study of Imprecatory Psalms,' OTE 29.3 (2016), pp. 581–600, complete approach survey; applied to Psalms 143:1–12
Open the imprecatory-psalm overview ↗peer reviewed open access literary and ethical study
Embracing the Psalter's imprecatory words in the 21st century
Nancy L. deClaissé-Walford
Acta Theologica Supplementum 32, 2021
Supports: Imprecation retained as difficult prayer and communal speech without converting violent wishes into commands or erasing Jewish reception.
Exact location: deClaissé-Walford, 'Embracing the Psalter's imprecatory words,' Acta Theologica Suppl. 32 (2021), pp. 275–292, especially literary, liturgical, trauma, and ethical proposal; applied to Psalms 143:1–12
Open deClaissé-Walford on imprecation ↗public health communication guidance
Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023
World Health Organization
World Health Organization, 2023
Supports: Communication safeguards against romanticizing, sensationalizing, diagnosing, blaming, or simplifying despair, isolation, death wishes, and severe loss; not exegesis.
Exact location: WHO, Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023, quick guide p. xiii and dos and don'ts pp. 11–16; applied only to modern safety-aware presentation of Psalms 143:1–12
Open the WHO communication guide ↗