1 Listen, O Lord, to my prayer; give ear to my plea. In your faithfulness give me answer, and in your righteousness. With your servant O enter you not into judgment, for in your sight can no one alive be justified.
Jerome · AD 420 O Lord, hear my prayer. The words of a humble man, full of humility and mercy. Give ear to my supplication in your truth. These are the words of one who trusts. In your truth, that is, in your Christ. 'I am the way and the life and the truth.' Hear me in your justice. Here too, in your Christ.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Let then our Lord speak; let Christ with us, whole Christ, speak. "Lord, hear my prayer, receive with Your ears my entreaty" [Psalm 143:1]. "Hear" and "receive with ears" are the same thing. It is repetition, it is confirmation.
3 For the enemy persecutes me, crushing my life to the ground, making me live in the darkness, as those who have long been dead.
Jerome · AD 420 For the enemy has persecuted my soul. This needs no interpretation: no one doubts that it is the devil. He has humbled my life on the earth. This is what he means.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "For the enemy hath persecuted my soul: he hath humbled my life on the earth" (ver. 3). Here we speak, here our Head speaketh for us. Manifestly both the devil persecuted the Soul of Christ and Judas the Soul of his Master: and now too the same devil remaineth to persecute the Body of Christ, and one Judas succeedeth another.
4 My spirit is faint within me, my heart is bewildered within me.
Basil of Caesarea · AD 379 Let that foe of yours upbraid you, but do you not upbraid him. Regard his words as a training ground in which to exercise philosophy.
Jerome · AD 420 And my spirit was in anguish over me. 'Do you first tell your sins, and you shall be saved.' And again: 'If you only sigh for your sins, you shall be saved.' My heart within me was troubled. Because of my conscience, because I sinned.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "And My Spirit within me," saith He, "suffered weariness" (ver. 4). Remember, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Here we see one voice. Do we not see plainly the transition from the Head to the members, from the members to the Head? ...
5 I remember the days of old, and brood over all you have done, musing on all that your hands have wrought.
Jerome · AD 420 I was mindful of the days of old. I was mindful of my former days, how I used to have confidence: but now it is night for me.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 But we too were there. He goes to the members. "I have called to mind the days of old" [Psalm 143:5]. Did He "call to mind the days of old," by whom every day was made?
6 I spread out my hands to you: I thirst for you, like parched earth. (Selah)
Jerome · AD 420 I stretched out my hands to you. Bound by the enemy, I can do nothing else except do penance, and lift up my hands to you. My soul is as earth without water to you. As earth without water thirsts and seeks the rain, so too my soul longs for and thirsts after you, its God.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Put two people together; one wants to go to the show, the other to church. They are joined in body, separated by their desires. The first is like the salt water, the second appears as dry land. How can we prove that this land is dry, which signifies people desiring good things?
7 Answer me soon, Lord, because my spirit is spent. Hide not your face from me, else become I like those who go down to the pit.
Jerome · AD 420 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.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "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.
8 Let me learn of your love in the morning, for my trust is in you. Teach me the way I should go: for my heart longs for you.
Jerome · AD 420 Make known to me the way in which I should walk. Make your Christ known to me, who said, 'I am the way.'
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Make me to hear in the morning Thy mercy, for in Thee have I hoped" [Psalm 143:8]. Behold, I am in the night, yet "in Thee have I hoped," until the iniquity of the night pass away.
9 Save me, O Lord, from my foes: for to you I have fled for refuge.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Deliver me from mine enemies, O Lord, for unto Thee have I fled for refuge" [Psalm 143:9]. I who once fled from Thee, now flee to Thee.
10 Teach me to do your will, for you yourself are my God. Guide me by your good spirit, O Lord, on a way that is smooth.
Nicetas of Remesiana · AD 414 It can be proved, too, that just as the Father is good and the Son is good, so the Holy Spirit is good. Of the Father, the Only-Begotten speaks in the Gospel: "One there is who is good, that is God." Of himself he says, "I am the good Shepherd." So, too, of the Holy Spirit, David in his psalms says to the Lord, "Your good spirit shall lead me into the right land." Just as it is…
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God" [Psalm 143:10]. Glorious confession! glorious rule! "For Thou," says he, "art my God." To another will I hasten to be re-made, if by another I was made. You are my all, "for You are my God." Shall I seek a father to get an inheritance? "You are my God," not only the Giver of mine inheritance, but mine Inheritance itself.
Bede · AD 735 Let us entreat the help of the grace of this Spirit in all our actions, dearly beloved. Let us all, individually and collectively, say to the Lord, "Let your good Spirit lead me in the right way." And so it will come to pass that the one who came down on the apostles and declared to them the things that were to come may disclose also to our minds the joys of the life to come.
11 Be true to your name Lord, spare me, bring me out of distress in your faithfulness.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Listen, then, with all your power, to the commendation of Grace, whereby ye are saved without price. "For Thy Name's sake, O Lord, Thou shalt quicken me in Thy righteousness" (ver. 11); not in mine own: not because I have deserved, but because Thou hast mercy. For were I to show mine own desert, nought should I deserve of Thee, save punishment.
12 In your kindness extinguish my enemies, and all those who vex me destroy; for I am your servant.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "And in your mercy shall bring mine enemies to destruction: and you shall destroy all them that afflict my soul; for I am Your servant" [Psalm 143:12].