Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 143:1

"Hear my prayer, O Jehovah; give ear to my supplications: In thy faithfulness answer me, [and] in thy righteousness." — Psalms 143:1 (ASV)

Faithfulness ... righteousness. —The first word recalls the covenant promise, the second the faith, expressed so frequently, on which the covenant rested, that the Judge of all the world must do right. St. John founds the appeal for forgiveness on the same pair of Divine qualities (1 John 1:9).