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1O Lord , rescue me from wicked men![#tn Heb “from a wicked man.” The Hebrew uses the singular in a representative or collective sense (note the plural verbs in v. 2).]
Protect me from violent men,
2who plan ways to harm me.[#tn Heb “they devise wicked [plans] in [their] mind.”]
All day long they stir up conflict.
3Their tongues wound like a serpent;[#tn Heb “they sharpen their tongue like a serpent.” Ps 64:3 reads, “they sharpen their tongues like sword.” Perhaps Ps 140:3 uses a mixed metaphor, the point being that “they sharpen their tongues [like a sword],” as it were, so that when they speak, their words wound like a serpent’s bite. Another option is that the language refers to the pointed or forked nature of a serpent’s tongue, which is viewed metaphorically as “sharpened.”]
a viper’s venom is behind their lips. (Selah)
4O Lord , shelter me from the power of the wicked![#tn Heb “hands.”]
Protect me from violent men,
who plan to knock me over.
5Proud men hide a snare for me;
evil men spread a net by the path;
they set traps for me. (Selah)
6I say to the Lord , “You are my God.”
O Lord , pay attention to my plea for mercy!
7O sovereign Lord , my strong deliverer,[#tn Heb “the strength of my deliverance.”]
you shield my head in the day of battle.
8O Lord , do not let the wicked have their way![#tn Heb “do not grant the desires of the wicked.”]
Do not allow their plan to succeed when they attack! (Selah)
9As for the heads of those who surround me –
may the harm done by their lips overwhelm them!
10May he rain down fiery coals upon them![#tn The verb form in the Kethib (consonantal Hebrew text) appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוּט (mut, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in Ps 55:3, where it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). In Ps 140:10 the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read.]
May he throw them into the fire!
From bottomless pits they will not escape.
11A slanderer will not endure on the earth;[#tn Heb “a man of a tongue.”; #tn Heb “be established in.”]
calamity will hunt down a violent man and strike him down.
12I know that the Lord defends the cause of the oppressed[#tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading a first person verb form here. The Kethib reads the second person.]
and vindicates the poor.
13Certainly the godly will give thanks to your name;
the morally upright will live in your presence.