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Psalm 43 · a question people ask

Who is the "ungodly nation" of 43:1?

In the text

The psalm doesn't say. It has no title, and it names no place, king or people: "Vindicate me, God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from deceitful and wicked men" (43:1), and later "the oppression of the enemy" (43:2). Ungodly is two Hebrew words, lo chasid, "not" with chasid, the word of "the LORD has set apart for himself him who is godly" (Psalm 4:3). Guesses about who they were go beyond the text, and these notes don't make one. Nothing in the psalm points to any people or nation today.

The verses

“Vindicate me, God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from deceitful and wicked men. For you are the God of my strength. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
Psalm 43:1-2 · World English Bible
“But know that the LORD has set apart for himself him who is godly; The LORD will hear when I call to him.”
Psalm 4:3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 43

Psalm 43: Send out your light and your truth

In 43:2 the psalmist goes "mourning", a Hebrew verb for being dark, and in 43:3 he asks God to send out his light and his truth to lead him. And where they lead doesn't end at the altar: "to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy" (43:4).

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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