Psalms 140:10-13

140:10 May he rain down ¹  fiery coals upon them!

May he throw them into the fire!

From bottomless pits they will not escape. ² 

140:11 A slanderer ³  will not endure on ⁴  the earth;

calamity will hunt down a violent man and strike him down. ⁵ 

140:12 I know ⁶  that the Lord defends the cause of the oppressed

and vindicates the poor. ⁷ 

140:13 Certainly the godly will give thanks to your name;

the morally upright will live in your presence.

[140:10]  ¹ tn The verb form in the Kethib (consonantal Hebrew text) appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוּט (mut, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in Ps 55:3, where it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). In Ps 140:10 the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read.

[140:10]  ² tn Heb “into bottomless pits, they will not arise.” The translation assumes that the preposition -בְּ (bet) has the nuance “from” here. Another option is to connect the line with what precedes, take the final clause as an asyndetic relative clause, and translate, “into bottomless pits [from which] they cannot arise.” The Hebrew noun מַהֲמֹרָה (mahamorah, “bottomless pit”) occurs only here in the OT.

[140:11]  ³ tn Heb “a man of a tongue.”

[140:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “be established in.”

[140:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “for blows.” The Hebrew noun מַדְחֵפֹה (madkhefoh, “blow”) occurs only here in the OT.

[140:12]  ⁶ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading a first person verb form here. The Kethib reads the second person.

[140:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the just cause of the poor.”