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Psalm 143 · a question people ask

"In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies" (143:12). How can a psalm pray that?

In the text

First, what the verse says. It is a prayer, and it asks God to act: "In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul, for I am your servant" (143:12). The psalmist doesn't say he will act against anyone himself. Earlier he prays, "Deliver me, LORD, from my enemies. I flee to you to hide me" (143:9). The psalm doesn't name its enemies, and these notes apply its words to no one today. Psalm 143 is not the only psalm that prays against enemies, and Christians read these prayers in more than one way. The chapter on Psalm 109 sets out the main readings, each resting on its verses, and chooses none. These notes don't choose either.

The verses

“Deliver me, LORD, from my enemies. I flee to you to hide me.”
Psalm 143:9 · World English Bible
“In your loving kindness, cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul, for I am your servant.”
Psalm 143:12 · World English Bible
“For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. God of my praise, don’t remain silent, for they have opened the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit against me. They have spoken to me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer. They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.”
Psalm 109:1-5 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 143

Psalm 143: Teach me to do your will

The psalmist asks God to act "In your faithfulness and righteousness" (143:1), because "in your sight no man living is righteous" (143:2): he leans on God's righteousness, not his own. And spirit is one Hebrew word three times: "my spirit is overwhelmed" (143:4), "My spirit fails" (143:7), and "Your Spirit is good" (143:10).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions