For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

1Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men;
         Preserve me from violent men

2Who devise evil things in their hearts;
         They continually stir up wars.

3They sharpen their tongues as a serpent;
         Poison of a viper is under their lips.

4Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked;
         Preserve me from violent men
         Who have purposed to trip up my feet.

5The proud have hidden a trap for me, and cords;
         They have spread a net by the wayside;
         They have set snares for me.

6I said to the LORD, “You are my God;
         Give ear, O LORD, to the voice of my supplications.

7“O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation,
         You have covered my head in the day of battle.

8“Do not grant, O LORD, the desires of the wicked;
         Do not promote his evil device, that they not be exalted.

9“As for the head of those who surround me,
         May the mischief of their lips cover them.

10“May burning coals fall upon them;
         May they be cast into the fire,
         Into deep pits from which they cannot rise.

11“May a slanderer not be established in the earth;
         May evil hunt the violent man speedily.”

12I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted
         And justice for the poor.

13Surely the righteous will give thanks to Your name;
         The upright will dwell in Your presence.

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
For the choir director. A Psalm of David. Rescue me, O LORD, from evil men; Preserve me from violent men

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
For the choir leader; a psalm by David. Rescue me from evil people, O LORD. Keep me safe from violent people.

King James Bible
<> Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man;

Douay-Rheims Bible
Unto the end, a psalm for David. Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust man.

Darby Bible Translation
{To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.} Free me, O Jehovah, from the evil man; preserve me from the violent man:

English Revised Version
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man; preserve me from the violent man:

Webster's Bible Translation
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man;

World English Bible
Deliver me, Yahweh, from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent man;

Young's Literal Translation
To the Overseer. -- A Psalm of David. Deliver me, O Jehovah, from an evil man, From one of violence Thou keepest me.

Cross References

2 Samuel 22:49 Who also brings me out from my enemies; You even lift me above those who rise up against me; You rescue me from the violent man.

Psalm 17:13 Arise, O LORD, confront him, bring him low; Deliver my soul from the wicked with Your sword,

Psalm 18:48 He delivers me from my enemies; Surely You lift me above those who rise up against me; You rescue me from the violent man.

Psalm 54:3 For strangers have risen against me And violent men have sought my life; They have not set God before them. Selah.

Psalm 59:2 Deliver me from those who do iniquity And save me from men of bloodshed.

Psalm 64:1 For the choir director. A Psalm of David. Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; Preserve my life from dread of the enemy.

Psalm 71:4 Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, Out of the grasp of the wrongdoer and ruthless man,

Psalm 86:14 O God, arrogant men have risen up against me, And a band of violent men have sought my life, And they have not set You before them.

Psalm 140:4 Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; Preserve me from violent men Who have purposed to trip up my feet.

Psalm 140:11 "May a slanderer not be established in the earth; May evil hunt the violent man speedily."

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

PSALM 140

This and the four following psalms are much of a piece, and the scope of them the same with many that we met with in the beginning and middle of the book of Psalms, though with but few of late. They were penned by David (as it should seem) when he was persecuted by Saul; one of them is said to be his "prayer when he was in the cave," and it is probable that all the rest were penned about the same time. In this psalm, I. David complains of the malice of his enemies, and prays to God to preserve him from them (v. 1-5). II. He encourages himself in God as his God (v. 6, 7). III. He prays for, and prophesies, the destruction of his persecutors (v. 8-11). IV. He assures all God's afflicted people that their troubles would in due time end well (v. 12, 13), with which assurance we must comfort ourselves, and one another, in singing this psalm.

To the chief musician. A psalm of David.

Verses 1-7

In this, as in other things, David was a type of Christ, that he suffered before he reigned, was humbled before he was exalted, and that as there were many who loved and valued him, and sought to do him honour, so there were many who hated and envied him, and sought to do him mischief, as appears by these verses, where,

I. He gives a character of his enemies, and paints them out in their own colours, as dangerous men, whom he had reason to be afraid of, but wicked men, whom he had no reason to think the righteous God would countenance. There was one that seems to have been the ring-leader of them, whom he calls the evil man and the man of violences (v. 1, 4), probably he means Saul. The Chaldee paraphrast (v. 9) names both Doeg and Ahithophel; but between them there was a great distance of time. Violent men are evil men. But there were many besides this one who were confederate against David, who are here represented as the genuine offspring and seed of the serpent. For, 1. They are very subtle, crafty to do mischief; they have imagined it (v. 2), have laid the scheme with all the art and cunning imaginable. They have purposed and plotted to overthrow the goings of a good man (v. 4), to draw him into sin and trouble, to ruin him by blasting his reputation, crushing his interest, and taking away his life. For this purpose they have, like mighty hunters, hidden a snare, and spread a net, and set gins (v. 5), that their designs against him, being kept undiscovered, might be the more likely to take effect, and he might fall into their hands ere he was aware. Great persecutors have often been great politicians, which has indeed made them the more formidable; but the Lord preserves the simple without all those arts. 2. They are very spiteful, as full of malice as Satan himself: They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent, that infuses his venom with his tongue; and there is so much malignity in all they say that one would think there was nothing under their lips but adders' poison, v. 3. With their calumnies, and with their counsels, they aimed to destroy David, but secretly, as a man is stung with a serpent, or a snake in the grass. And they endeavoured likewise to infuse their malice into others, and to make them seven times more the children of hell than themselves. A malignant tongue makes men like the old serpent; and poison in the lips is a certain sign of poison in the heart. 3. They are confederate; they are many of them; but they are all gathered together against me for war, v. 2. Those who can agree in nothing else can agree to persecute a good man. Herod and Pilate will unite in this, and in this they resemble Satan, who is not divided against himself, all the devils agreeing in Beelzebub. 4. They are proud (v. 5), conceited of themselves and confident of their success; and herein also they resemble Satan, whose reigning ruining sin was pride. The pride of persecutors, though at present it be the terror, yet may be the encouragement, of the persecuted, for the more haughty they are the faster are they ripening for ruin. Pride goes before destruction.

II. He prays to God to keep him from them and from being swallowed up by them: "Lord, deliver me, preserve me, keep me (v. 1, 4); let them not prevail to take away my life, my reputation, my interest, my comfort, and to prevent my coming to the throne. Keep me from doing as they do, or as they would have me do, or as they promise themselves I shall do." Note, The more malice appears in our enemies against us the more earnest we should be in prayer to God to take us under his protection. In him believers may count upon a security, and may enjoy it and themselves with a holy serenity. Those are safe whom God preserves. If he be for us, who can be against us?

III. He triumphs in God, and thereby, in effect, he triumphs over his persecutors, v. 6, 7. When his enemies sharpened their tongues against him, did he sharpen his against them? No; adders' poison was under their lips, but grace was poured into his lips, witness what he here said unto the Lord, for to him he looked, to him he directed himself, when he saw himself in so much danger, through the malice of his enemies: and it is well for us that we have a God to go to. He comforted himself, 1. In his interest in God: "I said, Thou art my God; and, if my God, then my shield and mighty protector." In troublous dangerous times it is good to claim relation to God, and by faith to keep hold of him. 2. In his access to God. This comforted him, that he was not only taken into covenant with God, but into communion with him, that he had leave to speak to him, and might expect an answer of peace from him, and could say, with a humble confidence, Hear the voice of my supplications, O Lord! 3. In the assurance he had of help from God and happiness in him: "O God the Lord-Jehovah Adonai! as Jehovah thou art self-existent and self-sufficient, an infinitely perfect being; as Adonai thou art my stay and support, my ruler and governor, and therefore the strength of my salvation, my strong Saviour; nay, not only my Saviour, but my salvation itself, from whom, in whom, my salvation is; not only a strong Saviour, but the very strength of my salvation, on whom the stress of my hope is laid; all in all, to make me happy, and to preserve me to my happiness." 4. In the experience he had had formerly of God's care of him: Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. As he pleaded with Saul, that, for the service of his country, he many a time jeoparded his life in the high places of the field, so he pleads with God that, in those services, he had wonderfully protected him, and provided him a better helmet for the securing of his head than Goliath's was: "Lord, thou hast kept me in the day of battle with the Philistines, suffer me not to fall by the treacherous intrigues of false-hearted Israelites." God is as able to preserve his people from secret fraud as from open force; and the experience we have had of his power and care, in dangers of one kind, may encourage us to trust in him and depend upon him in dangers of another nature; for nothing can shorten the Lord's right hand.

Calvin's Commentary

1. Deliver me, O Jehovah! from the evil man, (homo,) preserve me from the man (vir) [222] of injuries. 2. Who imagine mischiefs in their heart; daily they congregate for war. 3. They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent: [223] the poison of an asp [224] is under their lips. Selah 4. Keep us, O Jehovah! from the hands of the wicked: preserve me from the man of injuries, who plot to overthrow my goings. 5. The proud have set a snare for me, and have spread a net with cords: by the way side they have set gins for me. [225] Selah

To the chief Musician, etc. I cannot bring myself to restrict this Psalm to Doeg, as the great body of interpreters do, for the context will clearly show that it speaks of Saul, and of the counselors who ceased not to inflame the king -- himself sufficiently incensed against the life of one who was a saint of God. Being as he was a figure of Christ, we need not wonder that the agents of the devil directed so much of their rage against him. And this is the reason why he animadverts so sharply upon their rancor and treachery.

The terms wicked and violent men denote their unwarranted attempts at his destruction without provocation given. He therefore commends his cause to God, as having studied peace with them, as never having injured them, but being the innocent object of their unjust persecution. The same rule must be observed by us all, as it is against violence and wickedness that the help of God is extended. David is not Multiplying mere terms of reproach as men do in their personal disputes, but conciliating God's favor by supplying a proof of his innocence, for he must always be upon the side of good and peaceable men.

2. Who imagine mischief's in their heart. Here he charges them with inward malignity of heart. And it is plain that the reference is not to one man merely, for he passes to the plural number (in a manner sufficiently common,) reverting from the head to all his associates and copartners in guilt. Indeed what was formerly said in the singular number may be taken indefinitely, as grammarians say. In general he repeats what I have noticed already, that the hostility to which he was subjected arose from no cause of his. From this we learn that the more wickedly our enemies assail us, and the more of treachery and clandestine acts they manifest, the nearer is the promised aid of the Holy Spirit, who himself dictated this form of prayer by the mouth of David. The second clause may be rendered in three ways. Literally it reads, who gather wars, and so some understand it. But it, is well known that the prepositions are often omitted in the Hebrew, and no doubt he means that they stirred up general enmity by their false information's being as the trumpet which sounds to battle. Some render the verb -- to conspire, or plot together, but this is a farfetched and meager sense. He intimates afterwards in what manner they stirred up unjust war by the wicked calumnies which they spread, as they could not crush a good and innocent person by violence, otherwise than by first overwhelming him with calumny.

4. Keep me, O Jehovah! To complaints and accusations he now again adds prayer, from which it appears more clearly, as I observed already, that it is God whom he seeks to be his avenger. It is the same sentiment repeated, with one or two words changed; for he had said deliver me, now he says keep me, and for the wicked man he substitutes the hand of the wicked. He had spoken of their conceiving mischief's, now of their plotting how they might ruin a poor unsuspecting individual. What he had said of their fraud and deceit he repeats in figurative language, which does not want emphasis. He speaks of nets spread out on every side to circumvent him, unless God interposed for his help. Though at first sight the metaphors may seem more obscure than the prayer was in its simple unfigurative expression, they are far from darkening the previous declarations, and they add much to the strength of them. From the word g'ym, geim, which signifies proud or lofty in the Hebrew, we learn that he does not speak of common men, but of men in power, who considered that they would have no difficulty in crushing an insignificant individual. When our enemies attack us in the insolence of pride, let us learn to resort to God, who can repel the rage of the wicked. Nor does he mean to say that they attacked him merely by bold and violent measures, for he complains of their spreading gins and snares; both methods are spoken of, namely, that while they were confident of the power which they possessed, they devised stratagems for his destruction.

Footnotes:

[222] "The word man' in these two lines is expressed in the first by 'dm (homo,) in the second by 'ys (vir.)" -- Jebb's Translation of the Psalms, etc., volume 1.

[223] Mant translates -- "The serpent's brandished tongue is theirs." "The verb," says he, "here rendered brandished,' signifies either to whet, sharpen,' which is performed by reiterated motion or friction, or to vibrate.' In either case the metaphor, as applied to a wicked tongue, is beautiful and appropriate. I have preferred the latter as affording a more poetical image. See Parkhurst on snn, 3." In illustration of this figure Kimchi observes, that "the serpent when it comes to bite will open its mouth, and will hiss, and move its tongue here and there as if it would make it sharp as a barber's razor."

[224] The original word ksvv, achshub, rendered "asp," is to be found in Scripture only in this place; and though it evidently denotes some of the serpent tribe, it is not so easy to determine the particular species intended. In our English Bible it is translated "adder," and as the word is derived from an Arabic verb, which signifies to coil up, or bend back, it has been said that this act perfectly corresponds with the nature of the adder, which in preparing to strike contracts itself into a spiral form, and raises its horrid head from the middle of the orb; and which also assumes the same form when it goes to sleep, coiling its body into a number of circles, with its head in the center. -- (Paxton's Illustrations of Scripture, vol. i. p. 428.) But the same action is common to most serpents; and this name may, therefore have reference to no particular species. Some, however, contend that it is another name for the pethem, or asp mentioned in Job 20:14, the venom of which is so deadly as to be incurable and followed by speedy death, unless the wounded part is amputated. Such seems to have been the opinion of the LXX., as they render it by aspis, in which they are followed by the Vulgate and by the Apostle Paul, who quotes this text in Romans 3:13. Calvin here adopts the word sanctioned by these authorities. "As to the poison, it will be observed, that in the venomous serpents there is a gland under the eye secreting the poisonous matter which is conveyed in a small tube or canal to the end of a fang which lies concealed at the roof of the mouth. This fang is moveable at the pleasure of the serpent, and is protruded when it is about to strike at an antagonist. The situation of this poison, which is in a manner behind the upper lip, gives great propriety to the expression -- Adders' poison is under their lips.' The usage of the Hebrew language, renders it by no means improbable that the fang itself is called lsvn, lashon, a tongue,' in the present text; and a serpent might be said to sharpen its tongue, when in preparing to strike it protruded its fangs. We do not see any explanation by which a more consistent meaning may be extracted from the expression here employed." -- Illustrated Commentary upon the Bible.

[225] The imagery in this verse is borrowed from the practices of hunters and fowlers in the eastern regions of the world, who are accustomed to take and destroy the ferocious beasts and the larger species of birds by a variety of ingenious snares and devices. It is a curious circumstance, as noticed by Thevenot, that artifices of this kind are literally employed against men as well as against birds and wild beasts by some of the Orientals. "The cunningest robbers in the world," says he, as quoted by Mant, "are in this country. They use a certain slip, with a running noose, which they cast with so much slight about a man's neck when they are within reach of him, that they never fail, so that they strangle him in a trice."

Links

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