World English Bible
- For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Deliver me, LORD, from evil men. Preserve me from violent men:
- those who devise mischief in their hearts. They continually gather themselves together for war.
- They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Viper’s poison is under their lips. Selah.
- LORD, keep me from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent men who have determined to trip my feet.
- The proud have hidden a snare for me, they have spread the cords of a net by the path. They have set traps for me. Selah.
- I said to the LORD, “You are my God.” Listen to the cry of my petitions, LORD.
- LORD, the Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.
- LORD, don’t grant the desires of the wicked. Don’t let their evil plans succeed, or they will become proud. Selah.
- As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
- Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, from where they never rise.
- An evil speaker won’t be established in the earth. Evil will hunt the violent man to overthrow him.
- I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the needy.
- Surely the righteous will give thanks to your name. The upright will dwell in your presence.
Psalm 140 is a prayer for people who are hunted without being conquered.
What is striking is that this was given “for the Chief Musician.” Israel was meant to sing this in worship. God did not ask his people to hide their experience of threat, slander, and ambush. He put those fears into the liturgy. That alone is a mercy. The church does not honor God by pretending danger is unreal.
Notice how evil moves through the human body in this psalm. It begins in the heart, where mischief is devised. It rises to the tongue, sharpened like a serpent. It reaches the hands of the wicked, and then aims at the feet, laying traps along the path. This is not random wrongdoing. It is evil becoming organized. In the hill country of Judah, roads often narrowed through wadis and passes; nets, cords, and pits were not poetic ornaments only, but familiar tools of hunting and ambush. Even the “miry pits” recall the kind of cisterns cut into rock that could become prisons or graves (compare Jeremiah 38:6).
Western readers often underestimate verse 3. Scripture does not. Poisoned speech is not a lesser violence. Paul cites this verse in Romans 3:13, and James 3:8 echoes it. The tongue is the fang of the heart. Many murders are prepared first by language.
There is also a beautiful and severe contrast at the center of the psalm. David says, “You have covered my head in the day of battle,” and later asks that the mischief of the wicked would “cover” them. Two coverings appear here: one is God’s protection; the other is the sinner’s own words returning upon him. This is moral poetry at its finest. Either grace covers us, or our rebellion does.
In ancient warfare, the head was not just a body part. To cover the head was to preserve life, honor, and future. Christians cannot help hearing an echo of Ephesians 6:17, the helmet of salvation. Yet Christ secured that covering for us by entering battle uncovered—his head receiving thorns instead of shelter. The righteous sufferer was exposed so that his people might be kept.
The psalm’s hard prayers about coals, fire, and pits are not a surrender to personal revenge. Calvin saw this clearly: David is handing judgment back to God because earthly justice has failed. Augustine went further and saw these enemies not only as persecutors outside us, but as corrupt desires within us. Both readings belong together. We are threatened by violent men, and by the violence that would like to grow inside our own hearts.
The final promise is quiet and astonishing: the upright will dwell in God’s presence—literally, before his face. The wicked may surround the righteous for a time, but they do not get the last circle. The final enclosure of God’s people is not siege, but presence.
Suggested cross-references: Genesis 6:11; Romans 3:13; James 3:5–8; Jeremiah 38:6; Ephesians 6:17; 1 Peter 2:23; Revelation 22:3–4
Hymn suggestion: O God of Earth and
Altar
(also fitting: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God)
Prayer:
Lord, deliver us from violent hands and from poisoned lips, especially
our own. Cover our heads in the day of battle, keep our feet from hidden
snares, and teach us to entrust judgment to you. Bring us at last to
dwell before your face, through Jesus Christ our refuge and
righteousness. Amen.