Psalms 141:8-10

141:8 Surely I am looking to you, ¹  O sovereign Lord.

In you I take shelter.

Do not expose me to danger! ² 

141:9 Protect me from the snare they have laid for me,

and the traps the evildoers have set. ³ 

141:10 Let the wicked fall ⁴  into their ⁵  own nets,

while I escape. ⁶ 

[141:8]  ¹ tn Heb “my eyes [are] toward you.”

[141:8]  ² tn Heb “do not lay bare my life.” Only here is the Piel form of the verb collocated with the term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”). In Isa 53:12 the Lord’s servant “lays bare (the Hiphil form of the verb is used) his life to death.”

[141:9]  ³ tn Heb “and the traps of the doers of evil.”

[141:10]  ⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer. Another option is to translate, “the wicked will fall.”

[141:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “his.”

[141:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “at the same [that] I, until I pass by.” Another option is to take יַחַד (yakhad) with the preceding line, “let the wicked fall together into their own nets.”