Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 142:3

"When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, Thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walk Have they hidden a snare for me." — Psalms 142:3 (ASV)

When my spirit.— Literally, in the muffling of my spirit within me. When my spirit was so wrapped in trouble and gloom, so “muffled round with woe” that I could not see the path before me, and was distracted and unable to choose a line of conduct, You (emphatic) knew my path. (Compare, for the same verb, Psalms 61:2; Psalms 77:3.)