Psalms 140

David cries to the LORD for rescue from violent, slanderous enemies who plot his downfall. He affirms that the LORD is his God and his shield, asks that the schemes of the wicked fall back on their own heads, and ends confident that God defends the poor and that the righteous will live in His presence.

Psalms 140:1-2

David opens with a plain plea: rescue and protection from violent people. Their trouble begins inwardly, in plotted evil, and then spills out in constant conflict. He does not take revenge into his own hands; he takes the danger to the LORD.

BSA: Rescue (“deliver, save”): The request is for actual deliverance, being pulled out of danger, not merely comfort in it. devise (“plan and plot, imagine”): The evil is carefully thought out in the mind before it is acted on.

See also: Psalm 59:1-2.

Psalms 140:3

Their words are weapons. Like a snake’s tongue darting, their speech strikes, and poison lies just under the lips. Slander and cruel talk can wound and kill reputations. Paul quotes this verse in Romans 3, describing how deeply sin affects human speech.

BSA: venom (“poison, destructive power”): Their words carry a hidden, deadly harm that spreads after the bite.

See also: Romans 3:13; James 3:8.

Psalms 140:4

David repeats his prayer, now asking to be guarded from the very hands of the wicked. The violent are not only angry; they scheme to trip him up. He knows he cannot protect himself and asks the LORD to keep his feet steady.

BSA: stumble (“overthrow my goings, trip my feet”): The enemy aims to topple David’s steps, so he asks God to keep his walk secure.

Hebrew: חָשְׁבוּ (chashevu, H2803) — “they have planned, devised.” The Hebrew word suggests deliberate calculation. The plot to trip him is not an accident but a plan.

Psalms 140:5

The enemies’ pride shows in hidden traps. David uses the picture of a hunter: a snare, a net spread beside the path, and bait set out. The danger is secret and close to where he walks every day. Selah invites us to pause and feel it.

BSA: snare (“trap, net”): The enemies act like hunters who hide what they have set to catch him. proud (“arrogant, haughty”): Their scheming grows from a self-important attitude that looks down on others.

See also: Psalm 142:3.

Psalms 140:6

Surrounded by traps, David speaks the simplest words of faith: “You are my God.” Before he asks for anything more, he states whom he belongs to. Then he asks to be heard. Prayer begins with relationship, not with technique.

BSA: cry for help (“voice of my supplications, petition”): David is asking for mercy, with his actual voice raised in need.

See also: Psalm 31:14.

Psalms 140:7

David calls God the strength of his salvation. In past battles the LORD covered his head like a helmet, protecting what is most vulnerable. His confidence rests on what God has already done, not on his own ability to fight.

BSA: shield (“cover, protect”): God covers David’s head like armor when blows fall. strength (“power, might”): Salvation is not weak hope; it is held up by God’s own power.

Hebrew: סַכֹּתָה (sakkotah, H5526) — “you have covered.” The word carries the idea of a thick covering, like a canopy or screen. God does more than deflect a blow; He wraps David’s head in protection.

See also: Ephesians 6:17.

Psalms 140:8

David asks God not to give the wicked what they want. If their plans succeed, they will grow even prouder. This is not personal spite alone but a request that God would not let evil be rewarded and arrogance be lifted up.

BSA: exalted (“become proud, lifted up in pride”): Success would make the wicked more arrogant and more dangerous.

See also: Psalm 10:2-4.

Psalms 140:9

Here David asks that the trouble they planned for him would cover their own heads. The very words they used to harm others would come back on them. Scripture often shows evil bringing its own result on those who practice it.

BSA: covered (“overwhelmed, enveloped”): The harm they spoke would wrap around them like a cloak they cannot shake off.

See also: Psalm 7:15-16; Proverbs 26:27.

Psalms 140:10

David uses strong pictures of judgment: burning coals, fire, and deep pits from which there is no climbing out. These are prayers for God to bring justice, not private revenge. They show how seriously God takes violence against the weak.

BSA: miry pits (“deep waters, muddy trenches”): These are deep places of mud and water where no one can find footing to climb out.

See also: Psalm 11:6.

Psalms 140:11

David asks that slander and violence would not take root in the land. A slanderer is one with a “man of tongue” in Hebrew, and violence will eventually be hunted down by its own destruction. He longs for a society where truth and safety can stand.

BSA: slanderer (“one who spreads false and damaging information”): Lies that harm others are the particular evil David asks God to uproot. hunt down (“pursue, overtake”): The hunter becomes the hunted as calamity chases the violent man.

Psalms 140:12

After the pleas comes certainty. David knows, not just hopes, that the LORD takes the side of the poor and needy. Whatever the outcome looks like now, God is a righteous judge who will not forget the afflicted.

BSA: upholds (“maintains, executes”): God actively carries out justice and does not just approve of it. needy (“oppressed, poor”): Those without power or protection are the ones God defends.

See also: Psalm 146:7; Psalm 9:18.

Psalms 140:13

The psalm ends with settled confidence. The righteous will give thanks to God’s name, and the upright will live in His presence. Whatever the enemies do, the final place of the faithful is not a trap or a pit but with the LORD Himself.

BSA: presence (“before You, with You”): The goal of the upright is to live face to face with God. praise (“give thanks to, glorify”): Their rescue turns into thanksgiving for who God is.

See also: Psalm 16:11; Psalm 23:6.