Discovery BoxPsalms 140:1-9
ContextFor the music director; a psalm of David.
140:1 O Lord, rescue me from wicked men! 2
Protect me from violent men, 3
140:2 who plan ways to harm me. 4
All day long they stir up conflict. 5
140:3 Their tongues wound like a serpent; 6
a viper’s 7 venom is behind 8 their lips. (Selah)
140:4 O Lord, shelter me from the power 9 of the wicked!
Protect me from violent men,
who plan to knock me over. 10
140:5 Proud men hide a snare for me;
evil men 11 spread a net by the path;
they set traps for me. (Selah)
140:6 I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”
O Lord, pay attention to my plea for mercy!
140:7 O sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, 12
you shield 13 my head in the day of battle.
140:8 O Lord, do not let the wicked have their way! 14
Do not allow their 15 plan to succeed when they attack! 16 (Selah)
140:9 As for the heads of those who surround me –
may the harm done by 17 their lips overwhelm them!
[140:1] 1 sn Psalm 140. The psalmist asks God to deliver him from his deadly enemies, calls judgment down upon them, and affirms his confidence in God’s justice.
[140:1] 2 tn Heb “from a wicked man.” The Hebrew uses the singular in a representative or collective sense (note the plural verbs in v. 2).
[140:1] 3 tn Heb “a man of violent acts.” The Hebrew uses the singular in a representative or collective sense (note the plural verbs in v. 2).
[140:2] 4 tn Heb “they devise wicked [plans] in [their] mind.”
[140:2] 5 tc Heb “they attack [for] war.” Some revocalize the verb (which is a Qal imperfect from גּוּר, gur, “to attack”) as יְגָרוּ (yÿgaru), a Piel imperfect from גָרָה (garah, “stir up strife”). This is followed in the present translation.
[140:3] 6 tn Heb “they sharpen their tongue like a serpent.” Ps 64:3 reads, “they sharpen their tongues like sword.” Perhaps Ps 140:3 uses a mixed metaphor, the point being that “they sharpen their tongues [like a sword],” as it were, so that when they speak, their words wound like a serpent’s bite. Another option is that the language refers to the pointed or forked nature of a serpent’s tongue, which is viewed metaphorically as “sharpened.”
[140:3] 7 tn The Hebrew term is used only here in the OT.
[140:4] 10 tn Heb “to push down my steps.”
[140:5] 11 tn Heb “and ropes,” but many prefer to revocalize the noun as a participle (חֹבְלִים, khovÿlim) from the verb חָבַל (khaval, “act corruptly”).
[140:7] 12 tn Heb “the strength of my deliverance.”
[140:8] 14 tn Heb “do not grant the desires of the wicked.”
[140:8] 15 tn Heb “his.” The singular is used in a representative sense (see v. 1).
[140:8] 16 tn Heb “his plot do not promote, they rise up.” The translation understands the final verb as being an unmarked temporal clause. Another option is to revocalize the verb as a Hiphil and take the verb with the next verse, “those who surround me lift up [their] head,” which could refer to their proud attitude as they anticipate victory (see Ps 27:6).
[140:9] 17 tn Heb “harm of their lips.” The genitive here indicates the source or agent of the harm.
