Tap any verse number for what that verse means.
1Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
2For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
4Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.
5Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
Understand This
Psalm 43, explained
What Psalm 43 is saying
Psalm 43, lacking a superscription and sharing the refrain of Psalm 42, is widely considered its concluding stanza. The psalmist petitions God to send His 'light and truth' (orekha va-amittekha) as guides to lead him back to the holy mountain and the altar. The progression from lament (42) to petition (43) to anticipated praise ('I will praise You with the lyre') follows the classic lament trajectory.
The background behind it
The psalm's unity with Psalm 42 is supported by the shared refrain, the absence of a separate superscription (unusual in the Korahite collection), and the thematic continuity. The Septuagint occasionally combines them into a single psalm.
Themes running underneath
Light and truth personified as guides represent divine attributes that actively seek and retrieve the worshiper from exile. The altar (mizbeach) as the destination reaffirms that worship—not merely geography—is what the psalmist longs to recover. God as 'the joy of my delight' (simchat gili) intensifies the language of Psalm 42's hope.
Why it still matters
Psalm 43 transforms the general hope of Psalm 42 into specific petition: send Your light, send Your truth, bring me back to worship. It models the movement from emotional processing to concrete prayer, from 'why am I downcast?' to 'God, guide me home.'
Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.