Psalms 140:2-12

2 They plan evil things in their hearts. They start fights every day.
3 They make their tongues as sharp as a snake's [fang]. Their lips hide the venom of poisonous snakes. Selah
4 Protect me from the hands of wicked people, O LORD. Keep me safe from violent people. They try to trip me.
5 Arrogant people have laid a trap for me. They have spread out a net with ropes. They have set traps for me along the road. Selah
6 I said to the LORD, "You are my God." O LORD, open your ears to hear my plea for pity.
7 O LORD Almighty, the strong one who saves me, you have covered my head in the day of battle.
8 O LORD, do not give wicked people what they want. Do not let their evil plans succeed, [or] they will become arrogant. Selah
9 Let the heads of those who surround me be covered with their own threats.
10 Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into a pit, never to rise again.
11 Do not let slanderers prosper on earth. Let evil hunt down violent people with one blow after another.
12 I know that the LORD will defend the rights of those who are oppressed and the cause of those who are needy.

Psalms 140:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. This psalm, A ben Ezra says, was composed by David before he was king; and Kimchi says, it is concerning Doeg and the Ziphites, who calumniated him to Saul; and, according to our English contents, it is a prayer of David to be delivered from Saul and Doeg. The Syriac inscription is, "said by David, when Saul threw a javelin at him to kill him, but it struck the wall; but, spiritually, the words of him that cleaves to God, and contends with his enemies." R. Obadiah says, it was made at the persecution of David by Saul, which was before the kingdom of David; as the persecution (of Gog) is before the coming of the Messiah. It is indeed before his spiritual coming, but not before his coming in the flesh; and David may be very well considered in the psalm as a type of Christ, for he was particularly so in his sufferings, as well as in other things.
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