Psalm 43

Take me home to Jerusalem

Get me out of here

1Clear my name, God.
Defend me against these people who ignore you.
Protect me from these liars and crooks.
2I come to you for protection,
But where’d you go, and why’d you leave me?
And answer this. Why am I stuck here
Crying over the miserable things these enemies are doing to me?
3Turn on the lights and flash me some truth.
Let them lead me out of here.
Let them take me all the way to Jerusalem’s [1] holy hill,
And to your home among us.
4I’ll go straight to the altar.
I’ll go to you, God, where I find joy in life.
I’ll grab a lyre and pluck those harp strings.
I’ll sing praises to you, God, my God.

Why am I so depressed?

5Spirit of mine, why are you depressed?
Why do you make me feel so bad?
I’m hanging on to my hope in God.
I’ll have good reason to praise him again.
God hasn’t given up on me.

Footnotes

Intro Notes for Psalms

Intro Notes for Book 2 of 5 in Psalms

143:3

Jerusalem isn’t mentioned by name, but the context makes it clear that the writer is talking about the hilltop where the Jerusalem Temple stood before Babylonian invaders from what is now Iraq leveled it to the ground, with all of Jerusalem. Jews taught that the Temple was sacred because God was present there: “Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them” (Exodus 25:8 New Living Translation).