Psalms 142:4

Look on the right hand and see, for I have none that acknowledgeth me:

There is no asylum left me; my soul hath none that careth for her.

Though he will tell Jehovah of his distress, he knows that, even if he has no human sympathisers, He at any rate (Thou is emphatic) knows it already. His spirit faints (Psalms 77:3; Psalms 143:4; Jonah 2:7) within him, literally uponhim, for the spirit (as elsewhere the soul or heart) is distinguished from a man's whole -self," and regarded as acting upon him from without (cp. Psalms 42:4); he is in despair, but his comfort is that Jehovah knows the course which he must take (Psalms 143:8), and the perils which beset him from treacherous enemies.

The Massoretic text reads the imperative look … and see. The rendering of P.B.V. and A.V. I looked … and saw(beheld) follows the LXX, Vulg., Syr., and Targ., but requires a change in the vocalisation of the Hebrew words. The indicative I lookedis the more obvious reading; but the appeal to Jehovah, look!is more forcible. Cp. Lamentations 1:11; Lamentations 2:20; Lamentations 5:1.

on my right hand Where his protector would be standing if he had one. Cp. Psalms 16:8; Psalms 109:31; Psalms 110:5; Psalms 121:5. But there is no one to acknowledge him as his client (Ruth 2:10; Ruth 2:19) and defend him. He has no asylum left: lit. a place of flight is perished from me. Cp. Job 11:20; Jeremiah 25:35; Amos 2:14.

With the last clause cp. Jeremiah 30:17, "Yonder is Zion, who hath none to care for her."