This is not a reason of what he last said, Psalms 143:2, but an argument to enforce his petition delivered Psalms 143:1, and repeated Psalms 143:7, &c. For though I am not faultless, if thou shouldst make an exact search into me, yet mine enemies are more culpable and highly unjust, and therefore I hope for thy help against them, from thy justice as well as mercy. My soul, i.e. my life; for nothing less will satisfy him. He hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath beaten me down to the ground, where I lie struggling for life. He hath made me to dwell in darkness; he hath forced me to have mine abode in dark vaults and caves, where I am out of sight and memory, and in as forlorn and hopeless a condition in the eye of man as those that have lain long rotting in the grave.
Related Commentaries of Psalms 143:3
Psalms 143:3
3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.