Psalm 140:1-13
For the director. A melody of David.
140 Rescue me, O Jehovah, from bad men;*+May you safeguard me even from the man of deeds of violence,+
2 Those who have schemed bad things in [their] heart,+Who all day long keep attacking as in wars.+
3 They have sharpened their tongue like that of a serpent;+The venom of the horned viper is under their lips.+ Seʹlah.
4 Keep me, O Jehovah, from the hands of the wicked one;+May you safeguard me even from the man* of deeds of violence,+Those who have schemed to push my steps.+
5 The self-exalted ones have hidden a trap for me;+And ropes they have spread out as a net at the side of the track.+Snares they have set for me.+ Seʹlah.
6 I have said to Jehovah:* “You are my God.*+Do give ear, O Jehovah, to the voice of my entreaties.”+
7 O Jehovah the Sovereign Lord,+ the strength of my salvation,+You have screened over my head in the day of the armed force.+
8 Do not grant, O Jehovah, the cravings of the wicked one.+Do not promote his plotting, that they may not be exalted.+ Seʹlah.
9 As for the heads of those surrounding me,+May the trouble of their own lips cover them.+
10 May burning coals be dropped upon them.+Let them be made to fall into the fire,+ into watery pits, that they may not get up.+
11 The big talker*—let him not be firmly established in the earth.+The man of violence—let evil itself hunt him with repeated thrusts.+
12 I well know that Jehovah will execute+The legal claim of the afflicted one, the judgment of the poor ones.+
13 Surely the righteous themselves will give thanks to your name;+The upright ones will dwell before your face.+
Footnotes
^ Lit., “from . . . earthling man.” Heb., me·ʼa·dhamʹ.
^ “From the man of.” Heb., me·ʼishʹ.
^ “My God.” Heb., ʼEʹli.
^ “To Jehovah.” Heb., la·Yhwahʹ.
^ Or, “The slanderer.” Lit., “The man of tongue.”
