BackgroundA petition for deliverance from men whose tongues and hands are sharpened for violence. The psalm uses court and battlefield imagery interchangeably. No specific historical setting is given in the superscription though the language fits David's years as a fugitive.
Psalm 140: Rescue from Violent Men
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
By Bea Zalel
Psalm 140
For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
- Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men. Protect me from men of violence,
- who devise evil in their hearts and stir up war all day long.
- They sharpen their tongues like snakes; the venom of vipers is on their lips. Selah
- Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked. Keep me safe from men of violence who scheme to make me stumble.
- The proud hide a snare for me; the cords of their net are spread along the path, and lures are set out for me. Selah
- I say to the LORD, "You are my God." Hear, O LORD, my cry for help.
- O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, You shield my head in the day of battle.
- Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; do not promote their evil plans, lest they be exalted. Selah
- May the heads of those who surround me be covered in the trouble their lips have caused.
- May burning coals fall on them; may they be thrown into the fire, into the miry pits, never to rise again.
- May no slanderer be established in the land; may calamity hunt down the man of violence.
- I know that the LORD upholds justice for the poor and defends the cause of the needy.
- Surely the righteous will praise Your name; the upright will dwell in Your presence.
Theme
Psalm 140 belongs to a small cluster (140-143) traditionally read as David's prayers from the years of being hunted. The opening petition is doubled. "Rescue me from the evil man, preserve me from the violent man." The word for violent here is "chamas," the same word used in Genesis 6 to describe the world before the flood. It is not random aggression. It is structural cruelty, the kind of harm that organizes itself and recruits others. David is not complaining about a personal grudge. He is naming a category of person that scripture treats as a threat to the moral order itself.
The middle of the psalm describes the enemies' weaponized speech. Tongues sharp as a serpent's, viper's poison under their lips. This is the ancient world's recognition that words can kill more thoroughly than swords because words organize the swords. The psalm then asks for a kind of poetic justice. Let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them, let burning coals fall on them, let them be cast into pits from which they cannot rise. The imagery is severe. It is also coherent. The pits the wicked dug are the pits the wicked fall into. This is not a private wish. It is an appeal to the order of things that scripture insists is built into creation.
The closing affirmation is one of the quietest moments in the Davidic collection. "I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted and execute justice for the needy." The verb "maintain" is from a root meaning to do, to make, to perform. God will perform the case of the poor. He will not merely sympathize. He will act. The psalm ends with the upright dwelling in God's presence, which in the architectural language of the Psalter means the temple courts but in the larger picture means under God's face, his attention turned toward them in favor.
Discussion questions
- The word "chamas" appears in Genesis 6:11-13 to describe the violence that triggered the flood. How does that lexical link change the way we read Psalm 140's enemies?
- The psalm describes weaponized speech (tongues, lips, poison). How does this connect with James 3:5-8 on the tongue? What is the theological continuity between the Old and New Testament treatments?
- Imprecatory verses 9-11 ask for burning coals, fire and deep pits. Romans 12:20 quotes "heap burning coals on his head" from Proverbs 25 in a different sense. How should a Christian reader hold these two uses together?
- The closing affirmation in v12 names "the afflicted" and "the needy" specifically. Why does the psalm move from personal rescue to a class of people? What does that say about how David understood his own suffering?
- How does the lack of a specific historical superscription affect the psalm's usefulness for later readers in different circumstances?
- Compare the violent men of Psalm 140 with the wicked of Psalm 1. What is added by the more concrete imagery of weapons and pits?
- The Selah in vv3, 5 and 8 marks pauses. What rhetorical work do those pauses do in a public reading of the psalm?
- If "chamas" names structural rather than personal violence, what does that suggest about the kinds of situations in which this psalm should be prayed today?
- The phrase "the upright shall dwell in your presence" closes the psalm. How does that closing image function in a prayer that began with the urgent verb "rescue"?
- Bea Zalel notes that the pits the wicked dug are the pits they fall into. Where in your own observation of public life have you seen that pattern hold? Where has it seemed to fail?
Read this psalm in another translation
The inline text above is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB). Open in a new tab to compare with a modern licensed translation: