Psalm 43 is the 43rd psalm of the Book of Psalms, known in the English King James Version as "Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 42. In Latin, it is known as "Iudica me Deus". It is commonly attributed to the sons of Korah. In the Hebrew Bible, it comes within the second of the five books (divisions) of Psalms, also known as the "Elohistic Psalter" because the word YHWH is rarely used and God is generally referred to as "Elohim".
The psalm forms a regular part of Catholic liturgy.
This psalm was traditionally recited or sung, following the Rule of St. Benedict of 530 AD, in the Office for the Lauds of Tuesday, following Psalm 50.
Traditionally, a priest would recite the psalm before he ascended the altar to celebrate Mass. In the Roman Rite, the traditional Tridentine Mass has the psalm said by the priest and altar servers in call-and-response format, as part of prayers at the foot of the altar which initiated the Mass of the Catechumens. It is not said at Requiem Masses and Masses in Passiontide, as the fifth Sunday in Lent instead has the psalm for its Introit. Recitation of this psalm at the start of Mass was discontinued in 1964, with the Instruction on Implementing Liturgical Norms, Inter Oecumenici.
In the present Liturgy of the Hours, Psalm 43 is recited or sung at Lauds on the Tuesday of the second week in the four-week psalter.
In the Agpeya, the Coptic Church's book of hours, this psalm is prayed in the office of Terce. It is also in the Prayer of the Veil, which is generally prayed only by monks.
In the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, this psalm is appointed to be read on the evening of the eighth day of the month.
The following table shows the Hebrew text of the Psalm with vowels, alongside the Koine Greek text in the Septuagint and the English translation from the King James Version. Note that the meaning can slightly differ between these versions, as the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text come from different textual traditions. In the Septuagint, this psalm is numbered Psalm 42.
"An ungodly nation" comes from words literally meaning a nation without Chesed, meaning kindness or love between people. Alexander Kirkpatrick notes that the "deceitful and unjust man" may be the leader of this nation, who may have "distinguished himself by treachery and malignity", but "it is better to understand the words collectively as a further description of the 'inhuman nation' in general, men of deceit and malignity".
The Clementine Vulgate was officially adopted as part of the Roman Breviary in 1592. The complete psalm is used in dialogue form in the prayers at the foot of the altar, which almost always begin the Tridentine Mass.
The Pian psalter or Versio Piana was completed in 1945 and printed in most breviaries thereafter.
The Nova Vulgata, a new translation from the Hebrew was completed in 1979 for liturgical use. It is the version used in the current typical edition of the Liturgia Horarum.
The Stuttgart Vulgate, completed in 1969, is a non-liturgical version translated for scholarly use.
Heinrich Schütz wrote a setting of a paraphrase in German, "Gott, führ mein Sach und richte mich", SWV 140, for the Becker Psalter, published first in 1628. Michel Richard Delalande wrote a grand motet (S.38) to this psalm in 1693. Charles-Hubert Gervais set a Grand motet Judica me Deus in 1723.