Psalms 140:4-13

Context

140:4 O Lord, shelter me from the power¹ of the wicked!

Protect me from violent men,

who plan to knock me over.²

140:5 Proud men hide a snare for me;

evil men³ 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,⁴

you shield⁵ my head in the day of battle.

140:8 O Lord, do not let the wicked have their way!⁶

Do not allow their⁷ plan to succeed when they attack!⁸ (Selah)

140:9 As for the heads of those who surround me –

may the harm done by⁹ their lips overwhelm them!

140:10 May he rain down¹⁰ fiery coals upon them!

May he throw them into the fire!

From bottomless pits they will not escape.¹¹

140:11 A slanderer¹² will not endure on¹³ the earth;

calamity will hunt down a violent man and strike him down.¹⁴

140:12 I know¹⁵ that the Lord defends the cause of the oppressed

and vindicates the poor.¹⁶

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

the morally upright will live in your presence.

[140:4] ¹tn Heb “hands.”

[140:4] ²tn Heb “to push down my steps.”

[140:5] ³tn Heb “and ropes,” but many prefer to revocalize the noun as a participle (חֹבְלִים, khovÿlim) from the verb חָבַל (khaval, “act corruptly”).

[140:7] ⁴tn Heb “the strength of my deliverance.”

[140:7] ⁵tn Heb “cover.”

[140:8] ⁶tn Heb “do not grant the desires of the wicked.”

[140:8] ⁷tn Heb “his.” The singular is used in a representative sense (see v. 1).

[140:8] ⁸tn 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] ⁹tn Heb “harm of their lips.” The genitive here indicates the source or agent of the harm.

[140:10] ¹⁰tn 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] ¹¹tn 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] ¹²tn Heb “a man of a tongue.”

[140:11] ¹³tn Heb “be established in.”

[140:11] ¹⁴tn Heb “for blows.” The Hebrew noun מַדְחֵפֹה (madkhefoh, “blow”) occurs only here in the OT.

[140:12] ¹⁵tc 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] ¹⁶tn Heb “and the just cause of the poor.”