Psalm 143

Revive me, O Lord, for your Name’s sake!

• Providentially, this post is scheduled for Holy Saturday, 2026, when Anglicans and other traditions in the western Church celebrate the Great Vigil.

  • In this service, we journey through the biblical story, beginning with Creation, and continuing with as many as nine or more moments in salvation history (e.g., Flood, Red Sea, Ezekiel’s dry bones, Jonah, etc.).

  • It is a “vigil” because we are watching and waiting for the Resurrection, the high point of the service, the celebration of Jesus rising from the dead, sometime in the night before dawn on Easter Sunday morning.

  • (Any time after nightfall on Saturday night is Sunday, in biblical reckoning.)

• And in our church, we have sometimes begun the service by reading this very psalm, attributed to David, Psalm 143!

• So read it “in Jesus”—that is, in the voice of Jesus—in the context of the great salvation story:

  • Hear my prayer!

  • Enter not into judgment!

  • “The enemy” has “smitten my life down to the ground.”

  • “Yet I remember the time past; I muse upon all your works…”

  • “Hear me, … lest I be like those who go down into the pit.”

  • “Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies…”

  • “Revive me, O Lord, for your Name’s sake…!”

So…

• Read the psalm in its entirety below.

• See your Savior there.

• (And you would be most welcome at a local Great Vigil service tonight! It is BY FAR my favorite service of the year. There is nothing like it.)

Psalm 143
Domine, exaudi

1	Hear my prayer, O Lord, and consider my supplications; * 
		hearken to me, for your truth and righteousness’ sake.
2	Enter not into judgment with your servant, *
		for in your sight shall no one living be justified.
3	For the enemy has persecuted my soul; he has smitten my life down to the ground; *
		he has laid me in the darkness, like those who have been long dead.
4	Therefore my spirit faints within me, * 
		and my heart within me is desolate.
5	Yet I remember the time past; I muse upon all your works; * 
		indeed, I meditate on the works of your hands.
6	I stretch forth my hands to you; *
		my soul gasps for you as a thirsty land.
7	Hear me, O Lord, and very soon, for my spirit grows faint; * 
		hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down into the pit.
8	O let me hear your loving-kindness in the morning, for in you have I put my trust; *
		show me the way that I should walk in, for I lift up my soul unto you.
9	Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies, * 
		for I flee unto you to hide me.
10	Teach me to do the thing that pleases you, for you are my God; * 
		let your loving Spirit lead me forth into the land of righteousness.
11	Revive me, O Lord, for your Name’s sake; *
		and for your righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
12	Of your goodness slay my enemies, *
		and destroy all those who afflict my soul, for I am your servant.

New Coverdale Psalter