When it is said
Pray it when you feel that no one notices you or cares what becomes of you.
The Orthodox sing it at Great Vespers, straight after the psalm that begins “Lord, I have cried unto Thee, hear me.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria gave this psalm and Psalm 57 to anyone whose pursuer has walked into the very cave where they are hiding.
Where it comes from
Author by tradition
David in the cave
In its Hebrew heading the psalm is a prayer of David “when he was in the cave”, without saying which cave. David hid in two while King Saul hunted him. At Adullam his family and about 400 men gathered around him (1 Samuel 22:1-2). At En Gedi, Saul walked into the very cave where David and his men were hiding, and David would not let them harm him (1 Samuel 24:3-7).
The Hebrew Bible, on Mechon Mamre; The King James Version, 1 Samuel 22 and 24
Part of the psalm
This prayer gives all of Psalm 142 but two half-verses, so that every line speaks to someone who feels alone. It leaves out the end of Psalm 142:3, where enemies have hidden a trap on David’s path. It also leaves out the end of Psalm 142:6, where he asks to be rescued from the men who hunt him.
What the words mean
Refuge or hope
In the Greek of the Orthodox services, this psalm follows the Septuagint, the old Greek translation of the Old Testament, which numbers it 141. Two lines read differently. Where the Hebrew has “You are my refuge,” the Greek sung at Vespers has “Thou art my hope,” in Robertson’s 1894 English. At the end, the righteous “shall wait for me” instead of gathering around him. The plain English follows the Hebrew.
J. N. W. B. Robertson, The Divine Liturgies (1894), Greek and English; Brenton’s translation of the Septuagint, Psalm 141
The Scripture in it
I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift my voice to the LORD for mercy. I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him. Although my spirit grows faint within me, You know my way. Along the path I travel they have hidden a snare for me. Look to my right and see; no one attends to me. There is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul. I cry to You, O LORD: “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
Listen to my cry, for I am brought quite low. Rescue me from my pursuers, for they are too strong for me. Free my soul from prison, that I may praise Your name. The righteous will gather around me because of Your goodness to me.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.