Passage Research
Psalm 142 — Sermon Preparation
A David cave prayer of utter isolation, crying that no one cares for his soul, yet confessing God as his only refuge and hope for deliverance. Below is a research summary for Psalm 142, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.
- 8
- verses
- 75 / 58
- Hebrew words / lemmas
- 3
- classic sermon excerpts
- 3
- preachers & commentators
Psalm 142 in the Hebrew
Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | Strong's | Count | Glosses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| זָעַק | zâʻaq | H2199 | 2 | shriek, announce |
| קוֹל | qôwl | H6963 | 2 | voice, sound |
| נֶפֶשׁ | nephesh | H5315 | 2 | breathing creature, animal |
| כָּתַר | kâthar | H3803 | 1 | enclose, crown |
| מַסְגֵּר | maçgêr | H4525 | 1 | fastener, smith |
| מָנוֹס | mânôwç | H4498 | 1 | retreat, fleeing |
| דָּלַל | dâlal | H1809 | 1 | slacken, be feeble |
How preachers through history handled this text
3 public-domain excerpts on Psalm 142, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“This psalm is a prayer, the substance of which David offered up to God when he was forced by Saul to take shelter in a cave, and which he afterwards penned in this form. Here is, I. The complaint he makes to God (ver. 1, 2) of the subtlety, strength, and malice, of his enemies (ver. 3, 6), and the coldness and indifference of his friends, ver. 4. II. The comfort he takes in God that he knew his case (ver. 3) and was his refuge, ver. 5. III. His expectation from God that he would hear and deliver him, ver. 6, 7. …”
— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 3 (Job to Song of Solomon), on Psalm 142:1–30 (Public Domain)
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