The big picture
Psalm 140 treats violence as something planned, spoken, handled, and hidden in advance. Harm begins in the heart, sharpens on the tongue, reaches through violent hands, and waits beside the path in nets and snares. Against that coordinated threat, the speaker names God as his own and remembers that his head has already been covered in battle. The prayer then asks not merely for escape, but for the attackers' designs to fail and their own harmful speech to return upon them. Severe images of judgment dominate the middle of that request. The ending widens beyond one threatened person, grounding confidence in the Lord's maintenance of the afflicted person's cause and the poor person's right, before the final image shifts from pursuit to thanksgiving in God's presence.
In this chapter
- Poisoned Speech and a Carefully Placed Snare Psalms 140:1-5
The danger in Psalm 140 is organized before it becomes visible.
- The Head Already Covered in Battle Psalms 140:6-8
After cataloguing hostile hearts, tongues, hands, and traps, the speaker interrupts with a relationship: "Thou art my God." The prayer is not a search for whichever force might prove stronger.
- The Trap Turns, and the Poor Receive a Hearing Psalms 140:9-13
The reversal is sharp.
Scripture beside the summary
Psalms · King James Version · 13Psalms 140:1-5
Poisoned Speech and a Carefully Placed Snare
The danger in Psalm 140 is organized before it becomes visible. Mischief is imagined in the heart, tongues are sharpened, poison waits beneath the lips, and violent hands aim to overthrow the speaker's steps. The body itself becomes a map of deliberate aggression. Then the same pattern moves outward into the landscape, where cords, nets, and hidden snares have been placed beside an ordinary path. The serpent image makes speech one of the weapons rather than a harmless prelude to later violence. A poisoned tongue and a concealed trap belong to the same strategy: injury prepared before the target recognizes it. That is why the plea for preservation has to cover more than what the speaker can see. Psalm 140 presents the threat as coordinated enough that unseen preparation is part of the danger, not an accidental feature of it.
Deep dive
The threat is distributed through the body before it spreads across the path. Evil is imagined in the heart, the tongue is sharpened, poison lies beneath the lips, and violent hands seek to overthrow the speaker's steps. This is not a casual insult inflated into danger. The poem assembles planning, speech, and action as parts of a coordinated attempt to bring someone down.
The serpent image makes speech itself an instrument of injury. Romans 3:13 later quotes the phrase about poison beneath the lips within its wider indictment of human wrongdoing. Here the image belongs to particular attackers whose concealed snares continue the same pattern: danger is prepared before the victim encounters it. The cords and nets are placed beside the path, where ordinary movement becomes vulnerable. The request for preservation therefore includes protection from threats that cannot all be seen in advance.
Words to trace: LORD, preserve, Selah, violent, adders, continually
Verse-by-verse path
- Psalms 140:1
The two enemies are the adam ra, the evil man, and the ish chamasim, literally the man of violences, in the plural, as though violence were his trade. “Preserve” is natsar, to guard, a watchman’s word. The psalm is headed “of David” and marked three times with Selah.
- Psalms 140:2
“Imagine” is chashav, to plan or devise, the verb for designing a work of craft (Exodus 31:4) turned to mischief. “Gathered together for war” is better “stir up wars”, from gur, to provoke strife. These are men who keep conflict going.
- Psalms 140:3
The tongue sharpened like a serpent’s pictures a snake’s darting tongue as a blade. “Adders’ poison” uses akhshuv, a word found only here. Paul quotes the Greek of this line in Romans 3:13, “the poison of asps is under their lips”, in his catalogue of human sin.
- Psalms 140:4
The request of verse 1 comes back with one addition. “Overthrow my goings” is lidchot pe’amai, to push my steps over, the verb dachah that describes the thrust at the speaker in Psalm 118:13. They mean to trip him and knock him down.
- Psalms 140:5
Four hunting devices in one line: snare (pach), cords (chavalim), net (reshet) and gins (moqshim). A gin, from “engine”, was a spring trap in 1611 English. The traps are set “by the wayside”, on the path he must walk, and the proud are the trappers.
Psalms 140:1-5
King James Version1Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man;
2Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war.
3They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips. Selah.
4Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings.
5The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah.
Psalms 140:6-8
The Head Already Covered in Battle
After cataloguing hostile hearts, tongues, hands, and traps, the speaker interrupts with a relationship: "Thou art my God." The prayer is not a search for whichever force might prove stronger. It addresses the one already known as the strength of salvation and remembers a specific kind of protection, a covered head in the day of battle. That image answers the attackers' dangerous mouths and hands with shelter over the body's most exposed place. The request that follows goes beyond personal concealment. The speaker asks God not to grant the wicked what they want and not to advance their device. Their success would feed their self exaltation, so the desired rescue includes the collapse of the undertaking itself. Memory of earlier protection does not close the prayer. It gives the speaker reason to ask that the present design fail as well.
Deep dive
The declaration "Thou art my God" interrupts the catalogue of hostile actions with an identified relationship. The speaker is not merely searching for a stronger force somewhere in the world. The address names the one whose protection has already covered his head in battle. That exposed part of the body becomes the center of a remembered shelter, answering the earlier attention to the enemies' dangerous mouths and hands.
The plea not to grant the wicked their desires describes the result sought as well as the danger feared. Success would enable them to exalt themselves. The request is therefore not simply for the speaker to disappear unnoticed from their path while their enterprise prospers elsewhere. He asks for the failure of the undertaking itself. Remembered protection supplies the ground for the appeal, but the poem continues in petition because the present attack still requires an answer.
Words to trace: LORD, wicked, battle, covered, desires, device
Verse-by-verse path
- Psalms 140:6
Eli attah, “thou art my God”, is spoken before the request, as a confession of whom he belongs to. The request that follows is for a hearing only. The speaker quotes his own past prayer: “I said unto the LORD”.
- Psalms 140:7
“GOD the Lord” renders YHWH Adonai. “Covered” is sakkotah, from sakhakh, the verb of Psalm 139:13, where God covered the speaker in the womb. Here the covering is a helmet. “The day of battle” is literally the day of weapons, neshek.
- Psalms 140:8
“His wicked device” is zemamo, his scheme, a word found only here. The request is that God not grant it, not let it prosper. “Lest they exalt themselves” is yarumu: success would feed their pride as well as their plan.
Psalms 140:6-8
King James Version6I said unto the LORD, Thou art my God: hear the voice of my supplications, O LORD.
7O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.
8Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves. Selah.
Psalms 140:9-13
The Trap Turns, and the Poor Receive a Hearing
The reversal is sharp. Earlier, God covered the speaker's head in battle; now the enemies are asked to be covered by "the mischief of their own lips." Their weaponized speech is imagined returning as consequence. The pictures that follow are severe: burning coals, fire, deep pits, and the violent person becoming the one hunted down. Psalm 140 does not disguise these lines as neutral predictions. They are requests that the attackers be overthrown. Yet the closing confidence places that severity within a broader concern. The Lord is said to maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor, so the issue expands beyond one person's survival to the defense of those subject to mistreatment. The last scene changes the atmosphere completely. Instead of traps, pursuit, and falling, the righteous give thanks and the upright dwell in God's presence.
Deep dive
The covering over the speaker's head in verse 7 is answered by a very different covering over his opponents: the mischief of their own lips. The reversal makes their speech return as consequence. Fire, coals, and deep pits give the requested judgment a destructive finality, and the violent man becomes the object of a hunt. Those who arranged the pursuit are imagined unable to escape it.
These are requests for ruin, not neutral descriptions of an unpleasant outcome. The closing assurance sets their purpose within the maintenance of the afflicted person's cause and the poor person's right to judgment. The concern broadens beyond the speaker's survival without losing its connection to actual mistreatment. The last scene is neither another trap nor another pursuit, but thanksgiving and dwelling in God's presence. The movement from threatened steps to settled presence gives the prayer its desired destination.
Words to trace: evil, afflicted, burning, cause, coals, compass
Verse-by-verse path
- Psalms 140:9
The word “head” links the verse to verse 7. God covered the speaker’s head in battle; let the mischief of the enemies’ own lips cover theirs. The poison they spoke is asked to settle on them, like a cloth thrown over the head.
- Psalms 140:10
“Burning coals” are gechalim, the fire that fell on the wicked in Psalm 11:6, like the fire on Sodom (Genesis 19:24). “Deep pits” is mahamorot, a word found only here, perhaps pits of water or whirlpools. The prayer calls down fire from above and pits from below.
- Psalms 140:11
“Evil speaker” is literally “a man of tongue”, ish lashon, a slanderer. “Hunt” is tsud, the verb for hunting game: the hunter becomes the quarry. “To overthrow him” renders lemadchefot, blow upon blow, another word found nowhere else.
- Psalms 140:12
“I know” is yada’ti, a confession after the curses. “Maintain the cause” is din, to plead a legal case, and “the right of the poor” is mishpat evyonim, the justice owed to the needy. The afflicted, ani, are those who cannot afford to win in court.
- Psalms 140:13
“Dwell in thy presence” is literally “sit before thy face”, as courtiers and trusted counsellors sit before a king. “Surely” is akh, a word of certainty. The psalm that began with the violent man ends with the upright seated at God’s table.
Psalms 140:9-13
King James Version9As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
10Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again.
11Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.
12I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.
13Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence.
Questions to keep in mind while reading
- Follow the speaker, images, parallel lines, questions, and emotional movement.
- Notice where tension or suffering resists an easy answer.
- Read a saying as wisdom for faithful discernment, not as a mechanical promise detached from context.
Text first
Where readers differ
The chapter summary begins with what the passage says and how its parts fit together. It does not assume one denomination has already settled every question. Where a conclusion depends on a tradition, literary theory, or historical reconstruction, that dependence is named openly.
The KJV text is presented first. Interpretive conclusions are labeled, and differences are introduced only when they help a reader understand why serious communities do not always reach the same answer.
Comparative interpretive notes for this chapter are in preparation. Until reviewed notes are ready, this page separates the KJV text from summary and application without claiming that serious readers agree on every question.
Questions beneath the surface
- What account of God, human freedom, responsibility, and the good life emerges from Psalms 140?
- Which tension does the chapter refuse to resolve quickly?
- What changes when the chapter is read as part of the whole canon rather than as an isolated moral lesson?
- Where might a sincere reader confuse a familiar tradition with something the text states directly?
Questions for serious personal contemplation
These open-ended questions make room for tension, honest response, prayer, and conclusions that remain accountable to the chapter.
Observe without rushing
What part of Psalms 140 makes you stop, feel unsettled, or feel surprised, and why?
Which detail in the passage would be easiest to overlook? How does that detail change your understanding?
Where do you see tension between what happens and this focus: Psalms 140:1–13 completes a passage that was not covered by the original study-unit map. Its own wording and immediate context supply the focus.?
What important question does the passage leave open instead of resolving quickly?
Examine your inner life honestly
Which person, response, fear, or desire in the passage feels most like your own life right now?
What assumption about God, other people, or yourself does this text challenge?
Which part would you rather soften, avoid, or explain away too quickly? What might that reaction reveal?
If this Scripture could ask you one direct question, what do you think it would ask?
Respond with wisdom and courage
What do you need to remember, confess, grieve, thank God for, or trust after reading this passage?
How might another faithful person read this situation differently without ignoring the text?
What obedient response would be costly, uncomfortable, or slow, yet still faithful to Scripture?
What question will you carry into prayer this week, and which verses will you keep in front of you?
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
